The purpose of this study was to examine banks’ strategic adjustments to the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines how deep and pressing the necessary transformations are, based on an analysis of the banking sectors of Central, Eastern, and Northern European countries (CENE): the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The main research question posed asks how the pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis have changed banks’ sources of profits and risks, forcing banks to speed up structural transformations. In particular, the study identified and verified the following hypotheses: that the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on banks in the analyzed region was heterogeneous and that the pandemic has intensified the challenges of digitalization and forced banks to speed up the digital transformations of their business models. The methodology employed was the dynamic panel data model—generalized method of moment (GMM-SYS version), using an adjusted dataset from the BankFocus database for unconsolidated bank data for the 2016–2020 period. The econometric analysis was supplemented with a CENE bank survey, researching bank attitudes and the stage of digital transformation. The results of the survey revealed that the majority of the surveyed banks consider themselves digitalization leaders, with a clearly articulated and implemented digitalization strategy. The main finding of the study was that the digital focus may help large banks in CENE to address and offset problems revealed by the panel data model: that traditional sources of incomes, based on intermediation and interest-related incomes, no longer contribute positively to profitability but also to stability.

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During the technological processing of staple fibers into yarn drafting, waves are formed which increase the irregularity of yarn linear density and consequently affect the yarn quality. Even a correctly performed technological process does not allow one to completely eliminate yarn faults (thin and thick places, neps) and yarn irregularity. All the yarn imperfections distinctly become apparent in flat textiles made of such a yarn. The quality of the yarn produced should be assessed already in spinning mill, using the results obtained to conclude on the quality of woven or knitted fabrics. Modern metrological laboratories in spinning mills possess Uster Tester 5 (UT5) apparatuses that not only assess the yarn quality with respect to the irregularity of linear density, faults (thin and thick places, neps), or hairiness, but also using the test results obtained make it possible to create a digital image of the predicted appearance of a flat fabric made of the yarn tested. This article presents a computer-aided method of the analysis of the woven and knitted fabric images obtained from UT5 that allows one to assess the significance of particular yarn parameters in the predicted appearance of flat fabrics.

The aim of this article is to identify and project trends in the development of the non-cash payment market in Poland in terms of the payment cards use. The study was carried out on the basis of data from the European Central Bank (ECB) for EU countries for the years 2000—2014. The space-time analogy method was used. In Poland, the dynamics of payments by card at POS terminals (in commercial outlets) is higher than the EU average. However, in terms of such measures as the number of payment cards per capita as well as the number of POS terminals and ATMs per 1 million inhabitants, the gap between Poland and the EU average is over 10 years. In Poland, market was similar to 20 EU countries and will maintain development trends at least until 2020.

One of the areas of the economy affected by the COVID-19 pandemic is the banking sector. The aim of the study presented in the article is to answer the questions: what was the perception of the economic situation in the banking sector in Poland during the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the light of the results of business tendency surveys, and what determined its changes over time. The research was carried out on the basis of business tendency surveys conducted by Statistics Poland and Kantar Polska in the years 2004–2021. The conclusions were based on the trend-cycle component obtained by means of the X-13-ARIMA method. The analyses showed a negative relationship between the extent of the pandemic restrictions and the economic activity in banking, especially in the first phase of the crisis. Business tendency surveys show that during this crisis, the economic situation in the banking sector deteriorated more than during the financial crisis of 2008–2009. A relatively sharp decline as well as rapid rebounds were observed in the credit market, which caused its indicators to return in 2021 to the levels recorded before the outbreak of the pandemic. In the initial phase of the crisis, the economic downturn observed in the deposit market was not as sharp as in the credit market. On the other hand, however, the economic situation in the deposit market failed to improve significantly in 2021.