WARSAW -- Several major Western banks seeking operating licenses in Poland have a good chance of getting them this year, the central bank's official in charge of licensing has said.


Germany's Dresdner Bank and the French Banque Nationale de Paris are already in the final stages of getting a license for their joint operation in Poland. About six other Western banks have also been trying to start business.


Jolanta Daniewska, director of the licensing department at the National Bank of Poland, or NBP, said the banks must first supply detailed documentation of their operating plans.


"I think there are good chances that apart from Dresdner and BNP, other licenses will see the light of day this year," she said in an interview last week.


Last year the central bank toughened the requirements for obtaining banking licenses by both foreign and domestic investors, saying they had previously been issued carelessly.


Foreign banks were surprised by the tougher requirements but Daniewska said they were a natural consequence of Poland's transformation to a Western-style market economy.


"For many years foreign banks were accustomed to us not even knowing what documents to ask for. With our situation at the outset (of reforms) unclear, each foreign entry was welcome because it was bringing capital and credibility," she said. "But now these times are over. We want to know more about investors and have learned what to require from them."


Eight foreign banks already operate in Poland. All secured operating permits before 1993, when the tighter requirements were introduced.


Two -- the Dutch Internationale Nederlanden Groep and Soci?t? G?n?rale -- are branches. The others, including Citibank, Creditanstalt and Raiffeisen Centrobank, are fully owned subsidiaries.


Last year, the central bank irritated some Western banks by suggesting it would be easier for them to get licenses if they invested in ailing Polish banks. By that time, over 50 small banks had been created since reforms began in 1989 and many were already in financial trouble.


Daniewska said investing in an existing Polish bank made it possible to by-pass the complicated licensing procedures and the NBP had told banks they could simultaneously take over a small bank and open a fully owned subsidiary.