Given both the growing competitiveness on the Polish banking services market and the emerging demand barrier, the quality of the services offered by banks is becoming the most important factor in winning new customers and retaining the existing ones.

Are Polish banks in a position to offer high quality services? Have they developed quality management systems?

The answer is provided by the results of the nationwide survey conducted by the Marketing Research Department of the Poznań University of Economics among Polish bank managers representing banks' head offices and branches. The aim of the survey was to diagnose and evaluate the two stages of the quality management process: 1st stage - the preparation of the quality assurance system (various recommendations, guidelines, standards, instructions and procedures being in place); 2nd stage - the implementation of the system (the extent to which all bank employees maintain the established quality standards). The analysis conducted in the article shows that the managers rate the implementation process higher than the preparation stage of the quality system. The article also points to a statistically significant correlation between the evaluation of the level of preparation, implementation of the quality-system standards and the evaluation of the quality of the services offered by banks.