The intensification of households' relationships with banking institutions we have seen in recent years raises many questions about the future development of retail banking in Poland. The article demonstrates that the starting point to answer them is an analysis of the condition and directions of Polish households' needs related to banking services, as well as factors that shape such needs.

The fundamental requirement for a household to enter into a relationship with a banking institution is the realization of a specific need arising in the household. The close interdependence between the awareness of a need and the knowledge about a product that may fulfill the need is of crucial importance here. Further development of households' needs is the sine qua non condition for the development of retail banking, understood as an increase in use of retail banking services and an improvement of the quality of services provided to households. Although banks are able to influence customers' awareness of their needs and to stimulate the intensity of the needs noticed, it is the emergence of a need that is indispensable for a household to enter into a relationship with a banking institution.

Therefore, it is fundamental to identify factors that influence changes in the system of households' needs related to banking services. Besides the most often quoted economic, fiscal and demographics determinants, sociological factors play a key role, especially in relation to innovative banking products. The human is a social being, for whom society's acceptance and understanding are extremely important. As a result, social groups in which a human being lives strongly influence his or her behavior, including market behavior.

The influence of reference groups on purchasing decisions depends on certain product properties. Empirical studies have demonstrated that banking products have attributes that, apart from their instrumental function, they also have a symbolic one. That is why sociogenic mechanisms are so important in the process of shaping banking services related needs. Understanding those mechanisms is indispensable from the point of view of the banking institutions attempting to influence consumers' market behavior.