Bank Śląski was legally established in 1988 and started operations on as one of nine banks spun off in the late 1980s from the
National Bank of Poland, the culmination of a sequence of reforms during the 1980s that brought an end to the country's
single-tier banking system. In 1991, it was transformed from a
state bank into a
joint-stock company. In 1994 it debuted on the
Warsaw Stock Exchange. The Amsterdam-based
ING Group acquired a 54-percent stake of Bank Śląski in 1996. In 2001, ING merged Bank Śląski with its own branch in
Warsaw, and the merged entity has operated since then under the name ING Bank Śląski. In 2019, the bank established a specialist
mortgage bank under the name ING Bank Hipoteczny. On 17 November 2025, ING Bank Śląski announced an agreement with
Goldman Sachs to acquire a 55% stake in Polish asset management company Goldman Sachs TFI and therefore take full control of the company (ING Bank Śląski already hold a 45% stake in Goldman Sachs TFI). The purchase was approved by the
European Commission in February 2026. == Foundations ==