Given the specific nature of its business the banking sector is particularly susceptible to the usage of electronic communication channels. The article presents the results of a survey conducted by the author of the article. The survey was designed to find out the opinions of executive personnel of banks operating in Poland on electronic banking. Opinions of the representatives of 35 banks were obtained, including all banks offering internet banking services in Poland. The date of the survey made it possible to present the state of electronic banking on the eve of Poland's accession to the EU.

The results and the available data allow the author to state that the internet has become the primary channel of providing banking services. This is the second most important (after bank branches) distribution channel as regards the number of users and how often it is offered by banks operating in Poland.

The main barriers to the internet banking development in Poland are: a limited access to the internet and the clients' fixed habits and fears. However, the barriers will gradually lose their significance and in the coming years the number of internet banking clients in Poland is expected to continue rising. The majority of banks in Poland use a multi-channel distribution by offering banking services through the internet and, at the same time, through a network of branches (and other communication channels). However, a rise is anticipated in the interest in alternative retail banking strategies, i.e. strategy of a bank - financial supermarket and a virtual bank. As far as the market of electronic banking for enterprises is concerned, in the near future home banking will lose its dominating position (in terms of volume of transfers) in favour of the internet banking.

The introduction of the internet banking leads to an increase in the frequency of banking operations executed by clients, a fall in costs incurred (charges and commissions), as well as a decrease in the banks' total costs. In the coming years, the development of electronic banking should result in a significant reduction in employment in the banking sector and changes in its structure. In principle, the offer of internet banking services on the Polish market is not too rich neither sophisticated, in spite of the fact that banks have made electronic distribution channels (including the internet) generally accessible. However, banks in Poland have extensive plans to develop the electronic banking services which should favour competitiveness of banks on the common market of the European Union.