About us
Mission Statement
The mission of the Association of Financial Companies in Poland is to determine high standards for business conduct in all relations with customers and business partners. It is also to supervise the adherence of financial companies to these regulations therby to create and confirm a statement that those enterprises are institutions of public trust.
Our history
The Association of Financial Companies in Poland (ZPF) has been set up in 1999 to represent the Polish credit intermediation trade. The key persons behind ZPF’s creation were Mariusz Łukasiewicz, CEO of Lukas Bank, Sylwester Cacek, CEO of Dominet Bank and prof. Wojciech Żurawik, CEO of PKO TF.
Since the year 2000 ZPF has been an active participant of the regulatory process, being consulted on issues crucial for the retailfinancial services industry. In 2005 the scope of the industries that ZPF represents has been widened and it now speaks for several areas of the financial services market including the consumer finance banking sector, credit intermediation, financial advisory, economic information exchange, insurance and debt collection and management.
In cooperation with one of the most recognised business ethics experts – prof. Wojciech Gasparski – KPF initiated the creation and implementation of an ethics code – The Principles of Good Practice. Rules laid down in this document have set new business standards for credit intermediation, debt collection and economic information exchange, thus improving the level of services and increasing trust among market players.
Bussiness ethics play a major role in ZPF’s activities. Setting up an Ethics Commission and implementing an ethics program are two key elements of creating amd maintaining fruitful relations with stakeholders responsible for protecting consumer rights in Poland.
Another of ZPF’s vital focus points is education. It triggered the idea of launching a publishing cycle – the Library of Consumer Finance Congress – which already includes a number of important publications and is a platform for publishing personal finance guides for consumers. It is also used as means form promoting workshops and conferences, which form an important part of a dialogue with Polish consumer organisations. One example is the Consumer Finance Congress, which throughout its 6 editions was attended by over 1.400 participants and 200 speakers.
For over six years ZPF has represented Poland’s financial services trade in one of the most recognised European trade organisations – EUROFINAS – a federation which brings together 18 member associations from different EU member states and as such represents over 1.200 financial services institutions across Europe.
Eurofinas
We are a Member of Eurofinas, the European Federation of Finance House Associations, that is the voice of the specialised consumer credit providers in Europe.
Its members are essentially finance houses, specialised banks, captive finance companies for cars, equipment, etc. manufacturers and universal banks.
It is estimated that together Eurofinas members financed over 328 billion euros worth of new loans in 2011 with outstandings reaching 821 billion euros at the end of the year. Companies represented through Eurofinas employ some 93,000 individuals.
Eurofinas is composed of 17 members in 17 countries. The countries represented are:
Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
The mission of Eurofinas is to represent and promote the interests of its members at European level as the natural voice of the specialized consumer credit providers in Europe.
To achieve this, Eurofinas:
- represents the specialized consumer credit industry vis-a -vis the European institutions and other international bodies as a fair and reliable partner and a contact point for key stakeholders;
- informs its members of all European and/or international developments that may impact their industry;
- develops and defends industry positions that are supported by technical research and expertise;
- produces detailed statistics on consumer credit in order to i) explain who the Federation represents and its importance in the economy and ii) assess the current state of the market, identify trends and facilitate benchmarking;
- provides its members with a platform to (i) exchange views and best practices; (ii) network and (iii) meet relevant third parties (EU officials, experts, etc).
Eurofinas is a member of the European Banking Industry Committee (EBIC) and of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)