The Bank the Client Already HasWide moat

XTB (XTB) — moat facet

Six Polish bank brokerages hold the customer's salary and still lost the brokerage account - the one contest XTB wins outright.

XTB's own filings name the domestic competition: the brokerage arms of mBank, Santander, BOSSA, PKO BP, ING Securities and Pekao.1 And in the market where all seven compete, XTB describes itself as the market leader, on the strength of its product range and its proprietary platform and app.

The Polish rivals XTB names, and what they already holdPKO BP Biuro Maklerskie12,5m customers at the bankBank Pekao BMPoland second largest bankmBank Biuro MaklerskiemTrader and mInwestorSantander Biuro MaklerskieRetail and institutionalBOSSA, Bank Ochrony SrodowiskaBOSSA.pl and BOSSAFXING SecuritiesING MaklerXTB calls itself the Polish market leader; Poland was 57,4 pc of H1 2026 revenue
Six banks hold the salary, and every one of them lost the brokerage account.

That deserves more weight than it usually gets, because these are not weak rivals. Two of them appear elsewhere in this collection: PKO Bank Polski is the largest bank in Poland, with 12,5 million customers, 9,8 million current accounts and more than 8,7 million active mobile installations, and Bank Pekao is the second largest.2 Between them they already hold the salary, the mortgage and the deposit of a large fraction of the country. They have branches. They have been trusted for decades.

They lost anyway, and the reason is instructive. A bank brokerage is a department inside an institution whose priority is the balance sheet; a discount broker that takes deposits out of the bank is a competitor to the bank's own funding. Every incentive inside a Polish bank pushes toward keeping the customer in a savings account, and XTB's whole proposition is that they should not be.

This is the one contest where XTB has a durable advantage, and it is an advantage of focus rather than of scale.

Poland was 54,4 per cent of group revenue in 2025 and 57,4 per cent in the first half of 2026.3 Rising, which says the home market is still where XTB wins most easily.

Moat trajectory: Holding steady

XTB describes itself as the Polish market leader and Poland's share of its revenue has risen for three periods, so nothing here is deteriorating. Nor is it improving: the banks still hold the salary, and if any of them decided to compete properly the deposit base is theirs to convert.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
Active clients, first half of 2026
1,489,872, up 74,5%

Polish banks already hold their customers' money and brokerage accounts. XTB's active client count growing this fast means it keeps drawing investors away from them.

Source: XTB results presentation, first half of 2026 ↗
References
  1. ReportedXTB's own filings name the domestic competition: the brokerage arms of mBank, Santander, BOSSA, PKO BP, ING Securities and Pekao.
    XTB Group Management Board report on activities in 2025, business model and competitive landscape - the model "combines the features of an agency model with a market maker model, in which the Company is a party to transactions concluded and initiated by clients"; "XTB operates as a market-maker, meaning it is the counterparty to a client's transaction"; "XTB executes all transactions in shares, ETFs, and CFDs based on these assets directly on regulated markets or alternative trading systems. XTB is not a market maker for this class of instruments"; the competitive environment divided into trading platform providers (eToro, Trading 212, Robinhood), fintech companies (Trade Republic, Scalable Capital, Revolut) and CFD-only brokers (Plus500, IG Group, CMC Markets, Saxo Bank), with Polish bank-affiliated brokerages named as mBank Biuro Maklerskie, Santander Biuro Maklerskie, Dom Maklerski Banku Ochrony Srodowiska (BOSSA), PKO BP Biuro Maklerskie, ING Securities and Bank Pekao S.A. Biuro Maklerskie, and XTB described as a market leader in Poland; the planned European ban on the payment-for-order-flow model from 2026; key competitive advantages listed as a wide product range including stocks, ETFs, Investment Plans and CFDs plus interest on free funds, an eWallet with a multi-currency card and long-term savings accounts IKE (Poland), ISA (United Kingdom) and PEA (France); the proprietary xStation platform and XTB mobile app; no commissions up to EUR 100 000 turnover on stocks and ETFs and no withdrawal fees; operations in over 15 countries; regulation by nine financial authorities including the FCA and KNF; client fund segregation; 24/5 support; and the XTB Academy. Brand ambassadors Mads Mikkelsen (2016-2018), Conor McGregor and Iker Casillas (2022-2024) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (2024-2026); nearly PLN 585 million allocated to marketing in 2025, up 69,6%, including the largest campaign in the group's history launched in September 2025 across 13 markets including Poland, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Chile, the Middle East and Indonesia, and sponsorship at Roland Garros and Wimbledon; the XTB brand dating from 2009 and the word "trading" replaced by "investing" in 2023 — FY2025 · publ. March 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedTwo of them appear elsewhere in this collection: PKO Bank Polski is the largest bank in Poland, with 12,5 million customers, 9,8 million current accounts and more than 8,7 million active mobile installations, and Bank Pekao is the second largest.
    PZU–Bank Pekao memorandum of understanding (June 2025) — a combined banking-insurance group worth ~100bn zł (€23B), releasing up to ~20bn zł of trapped capital; targeted to close by mid-2026 — June 2025 · publ. June 2025 · source ↗
  3. ReportedPoland was 54,4 per cent of group revenue in 2025 and 57,4 per cent in the first half of 2026.
    XTB Group half-year report for the first half of 2026, income statement and geography - total operating income 2 086 324 against 1 160 891, up 79,7%, with the second quarter at 992 558 against the first quarter's 1 094 018, down 9,3%; profit on operating activities 1 202 271 against 552 163, up 117,7%; finance costs (607) against (85 087); profit before tax 1 255 368 against 495 343; income tax (228 128) against (85 291); net profit 1 027 240 against 410 052, up 150,5%, with the second quarter at 492 198; marketing (435 510) against (264 356), up 64,7%; salaries and employee benefits (246 964) against (192 700); total operating expenses (884 053) against (608 728), up 45,2%; operating income by geography for the six months to 30 June 2026 and 30 June 2025: Central and Eastern Europe 1 524 434 and 757 411, including Poland 1 197 033 and 605 985; Western Europe 402 163 and 237 381; Latin America 60 125 and 98 711; Middle East 99 577 and 67 388; Asia 25 and nil; the country from which the Group derives 20% and over of its revenue is Poland; net gain by class for the six months: CFD instruments 1 982 414 against 1 112 043 and other instruments 82 940 against 36 128, giving a gross result of 2 065 371 against 1 148 171; interest income on clients' cash 45 978 against 34 713; commission and fee income 15 975 against 9 520 — H1 2026 · publ. 28 August 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 24, 2026