mBank and CASE – Center for Social and Economic Research
cordially invite you to:
the 168th mBank – CASE Seminar:
Can the problems in the banking sector slow the Polish economy’s convergence process?
Introduction:
Stefan Kawalec, president of Capital Strategy
Panelists:
Eugeniusz Gatnar, Department of Economic and Financial Analysis at the University of Economics in Katowice, a member of the Monetary Policy Council;
Krzysztof Pietraszkiewicz, president of the Polish Bank Association;
Leszek Pawłowicz, director of the Gdańsk Academy of Banking.
The seminar will take place on March 18, 2021 from 3:00 to 4:30 pm.
The meeting will be held entirely ONLINE.
REGISTER
The seminar will be conducted in Polish.
About the seminar:
Various disturbing trends are under way in the Polish banking sector and its environment:
- Beginning in 2015, banks’ return on equity has remained both below average returns for the enterprise sector and below their cost of capital.
- The prospect of loan losses is emerging as a result of financial problems at companies hit by the pandemic.
- Legal risk related to foreign-denominated loans persists.
- Interest rates are very low.
- The share of state-controlled banks has grown from 20% of the sector’s assets in 2021 to more than 40% in 2020.
- Bank financing is being crowded out by government funds that directly target companies.
These trends are usually discussed and analyzed as separate issues. At this mBank-CASE seminar, we want to focus on their cumulative effect on the Polish economy, and primarily on how they affect the country’s long-term growth prospects. Stefan Kawalec, president of Capital Strategy, will speak to introduce the discussion, drawing attention to the risk that these trends may reduce the effectiveness of allocation of external funds that companies receive (both in the form of loans and as government subsidies). That may result in a slowdown, halt or even reversal of the convergence process (the narrowing of the gap in living standards between Poland and the West), which has been going on uninterrupted for 28 years. Responses to his remarks will be delivered by Professor Dr. hab. Eugeniusz Gatnar of the Department of Economic and Financial Analysis at the University of Economics in Katowice, a member of the Monetary Policy Council; Krzysztof Pietraszkiewicz, president of the Polish Bank Association; and Leszek Pawłowicz, director of the Gdańsk Academy of Banking.
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