• On 23 June 2023 Magdalena Rzeczkowska, Minister of Finance, dr hab. Jacek Jastrzębski, Chair of the Board of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority and Associate Professor of the University of Warsaw, and representatives of FinTech Poland met at the Ministry of Finance to discuss the Future Finance Poland initiative with representatives of Poland’s financial institutions.
• The project in question is dedicated to setting up Poland’s new-generation financial centre.
• The involvement of Poland’s key financial institutions in developing the centre is fundamental to the success of the whole enterprise.
• The Ministry of Finance signed a letter of intent with the FinTech Polska Foundation committing to help implement the Future Finance Poland project.

Future Finance Poland is aimed at establishing the mechanisms of coordination and cooperation supporting the development of Poland’s financial centre in regulatory, technological and business areas. In addition, the initiative involves promotion of Poland’s financial centre abroad and supporting the international expansion of Polish financial market entities. All these activities are meant to significantly improve Poland’s position in the global rankings of financial centres.

“We are glad to support initiatives aimed at boosting the innovative and international character of the Polish financial sector as a long-term challenge requiring a systemic solution. The timing is perfect. Due to its geographical location, economic stability, substantial internal market and qualified staff, Poland remains a highly attractive destination for investors. We are among the EU growth leaders, with stable economic growth and high FDI inflow in recent years increasingly intensifying Poland’s interconnection with the global economy. We wish to make good use of this moment and continue to support Poland’s economic development and create friendly conditions for making our economy increasingly innovative”, emphasised Minister of Finance Magdalena Rzeczkowska.

“Poland has the potential to become a new-generation financial centre by focusing on specialisation in several specific, select areas and by taking advantage of natural predispositions and intellectual competencies. This is true for areas such as cybersecurity or advanced analytics, where in recent years we made huge progress due to, among other factors, specialized staff. Because of our geographical setting, we obviously must invest in certain areas and in this respect I follow the motto that only the best is good enough. We are familiar with examples of countries whose geographical location and geopolitical situation – while highly challenging – eventually became a catalyst for building competencies allowing them to become global competence centres. This is why I believe that the areas that we must and will reinforce anyway should steer the course of building our potential as an international financial centre. It is crucial to create a friendly environment for developing an initiative of this kind. In my opinion, the key is to take optimal advantage of the synergy created by cooperation between public institutions, the commercial sector and science. Poland boasts unique experiences and achievements in this regard, for example relating to involving the financial sector in the digitization of public services. This is the perfect foundation that makes subsequent actions more likely and worthwhile”, said Jacek Jastrzębski, Chair of the Board of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority.

“The involvement of the public sector and market participants is of major importance for the success of the whole project. Cooperation between public administration and business will provide the foundation for implementing this long-term project. We appreciate that the Ministry of Finance and the Polish Financial Supervision Authority are open to dialogue with financial market participants, especially in the field of regulation and creating beneficial conditions for the sector’s development. A new-generation financial centre provides Poland with a one-of-a-kind opportunity to solidify its international position and will certainly pay off in the future, both are regards to economy and geopolitics”, said Paweł Widawski, President of FinTech Poland.

According to initiators of the Future Finance Poland project, building a new-generation financial centre is a great chance for Poland. Joining the ranks of the world’s top 30 most competitive financial centres in the next 4-5 years is a possible scenario that will generate tangible benefits. First, however, we will need to implement a well-thought-out action plan.

Revealed at a February meeting of the project’s key stakeholders in the office of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, the development strategy of the Polish financial centre is based on three components: organisation of the centre, specialisations and building a globally recognized brand of Poland as a financial centre.

Already today Poland – measured by the scale of available talent pool, economic development and infrastructure – has the potential to assume the role of a leading financial centre in the region. However, a precise vision and strategy were so far missing.

As repeatedly emphasised by the team behind Future Finance Poland, Poland has been building its financial centre for more than 30 years now and boasts many advantages, with mention due to modern banking sector, rapidly growing FinTech sector, and advanced financial market infrastructure. Already now well-educated talents attract more and more international financial institutions to Poland, where they set up business service centres and technological hubs.

“It is time for us to get promoted to a higher league and play with the best”, sums up Paweł Widawski of FinTech Poland.

Letter of intent of the Ministry of Finance and the FinTech Polska Foundation

In May the Ministry of Finance signed a letter of intent with the FinTech Polska Foundation to support the implementation of the Future Finance Poland project. Cooperation under the agreement assumes that both institutions, within their competencies, will take actions to increase the innovativeness of the financial sector, apply the latest financial technologies to support economic development, promote and optimize the regulatory environment supporting the development of the financial sector, attract local and international talents, increase the competencies of market participants, widen access to sustainable funding, and support the implementation of international projects in Poland.