The purpose of this paper is to compare certain figures and financial indicators for the commercial banking sectors in countries which joined the European Union on May 1, 2004, with particular focus on the Polish banking sector. The banking sectors in the ten countries have been included in this comparative analysis. With regard to certain outcome values (e.g. general expense ratio and interest margin), the analysis only includes banking sectors in seven or eight countries (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and, in the case of the fiscal ratio, also Cyprus) due to the unavailability of detailed data.

The level of development of commercial banks and the impact of factors which influence their competitiveness may be determined by comparing the achievements of individual commercial banking sectors on the basis of their balance sheet items and outcome values as well as financial indicators. Such comparisons show that at the end of 2003:

• Among the banking sectors in the countries which joined the European Union on 1 May 2004, three - in Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary - were significant in terms of their total assets. The Czech and Hungarian banking sectors obtained the highest net earnings.
• Although the Polish banking sector was the largest among those examined in terms of its assets, its profitability was very low. This was due to both external (primarily fiscal) and internal factors (chiefly related to general expense and credit risk management).
• When the scale of banking sector operations on national markets is taken into account by comparing the sector's total assets and other balance sheet items with GDP figures in the individual countries, the banking sectors in Malta and Cyprus lead in terms of total assets, regulatory capital and the scale of financial operations.