Bank offers Poles language option

Adverts in shop windows aimed at the Polish community

A Polish-language banking service has been launched by Lloyds TSB at branches in Suffolk.

The bank has introduced the service in Ipswich and Lowestoft to cope with growing demand from new arrivals.

In the past year alone, more than 100,000 new bank accounts in the UK have been opened by Polish customers.

A spokesman for Lloyds TSB said: "The face of the UK workforce is changing and the Polish community is playing an increasingly important role."

New community

He continued: "We are adapting our procedures to make sure that the account-opening process is as straightforward as possible for all our customers."

Since Poland joined the European Union in 2004, about 265,000 Poles have applied to the work in the UK.

Shops and supermarkets have also been stocking their shelves with packets, tins and jars of Polish food aimed at the new arrivals.

The HSBC bank launched its Passport account last year, which offered cheap international money transfers, while Barclays has been recruiting Polish speakers to work in some of its branches.