6. The Competitive Threats and Strategic Challenges to Polish Cooperative Banks: A Post Crisis Perspective

The aim of this chapter is to analyze the long-term impact of 2007–2009 global financial crisis on the Polish banking sector, with a particular focus on the competitive position and prospects of cooperative banks. It focuses on the consequences of the crisis on cooperative banks’ performance, concentrating in particular on bank stability, profitability, and lending policies. Analyzing bank performance, the chapter uses a new analytical tool: the risk-adjusted Multi Level Performance (MLP) score. For strategic threats, the results of cooperative banks’ surveys from 2013 to 2016 are interpreted. The chapter argues that the Polish cooperative sector, which has survived the crisis relatively well, has been negatively affected by the post-crisis macroeconomic environment and regulatory restructuring.