The National Bank of Poland plays a central role in the functioning of the banking system in Poland. The scope of its activities is set forth in the Constitution, the National Bank of Poland Act, and the Banking Law Act.
Areas of activities of the NBP
- monetary policy,
- issuing activity,
- performance of banking supervision,
- actions on behalf of the payment system,
- management of foreign exchange reserves,
- educational and information activities,
- provision of banking support to the State Treasury.
The fundamental task of the NBP is to maintain a stable level of prices (the inflation target is set at 2.5%, with allowed deviations of +/- 1%). In order to meet this target, the NBP prepares the monetary policy strategy, and adopts the monetary policy assumptions for each year.
One of the main objectives of the NBP is ensuring the stability of the banking system in Poland and the security of bank deposits. The executive body of the Banking Supervision Commission is the General Banking Supervision Inspectorate, operating within the structures of the National Bank of Poland.
This supervision is performed through:
- defining the rules governing the way banks operate, to ensure the security of the funds deposited by the customers in banks;
- supervising banks with regard to the observance of acts, statutes and other legal regulations, and the financial norms which they are obligated to follow;
- carrying out periodic assessments of the economic standing of banks and presenting their results to the Council, and evaluating the effects of the monetary, tax and supervisory policy on their development;
- issuing opinions regarding the rules of the organisation of banking supervision, and setting the rules of its performance.
As part of its supervisory activities, the NBP also pursues a licensing policy, consisting in setting the conditions of making capital investments within the Polish banking sector. To this end, supervisory agencies analyse the origin of the capital, and consider applications concerning conducting the banking activities filed by banks, branches and representative offices of foreign banks.
Since 1 May 2004 (Poland’s accession to the European Union), simplified regulations concerning the rules of undertaking and continuing activities by credit institutions established in other EU countries have been in force in Poland. The single licence rule has been introduced. This means that a bank or a credit institution holding a licence issued by one of the Member States of the European Union may operate in all other EU countries, having notified the country where its branch is to be situated.
According to the NBP, the biggest challenge facing the Polish banking system in the coming years will be Poland’s accession to the Euro zone, which may take place in 2012-2013.
