In addition to the influence of the ever-changing environment, banks' marketing strategies are shaped by internal factors. Some of those - such as the material, financial and human resources at a bank's disposal - are easier to measure; others are intangible and their impact on the bank's market behaviour is harder to grasp. Those latter include the corporate culture, the organisational structure, the value system and management style.

The objective of the paper is to determine how the financial resources of Polish banks influence their marketing activities, both long-term and operational.

The paper looks at 10 banks which boast the strongest position in Polish retail banking, and which, at the same time, have a relatively high share of household deposits in the overall amount of deposits. While the period under consideration is basically 1995-1999, certain important 2000 changes have also been included.

It appears that in absolute terms, both total assets and equity of the banks under analysis are quite high. However, equity related to total assets or the loan portfolio proves very low and is characterised by a very irregular growth rate pattern.

Both the assets and level of equity in the banks researched are very low by international standards, which may inhibit cross-border expansion as an option of marketing strategy (especially if credits are extended through a network of intermediaries). In most cases, low equity levels may also restrict investment necessary to implement certain marketing activities, notably the establishment of multiple channels of distribution or the creation of an extended product range (which entails investment in network development, new product implementation, outlays to upgrade computer infrastructure etc.)

Moreover, those modest financial resources of the banks in question perform worryingly badly, as common financial ratio analysis proves. Profits are volatile from year to year. Return on assets and return on equity are very low - much below the levels achieved by not only foreign banks, but also the best-performing Polish ones - and falling. The only indicator holding up at a satisfactory level is the solvency ratio, a measure of the risk of asset loss.

The banks which today dominate the retail market in Poland may soon find their poor performance an impediment to any attempt at successful competition with the considerably more efficient western banks.