Marcin Mikołajczyk w panelu BFG na EKF

During a discussion panel entitled „When America sneezes, will Europe get a runny nose? What impact can the problems of American (regional) banks have on banking in Poland and Europe?“ at the European Financial Congress in Sopot, Mr. Marcin Mikołajczyk, Deputy Chairman of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF), commented on this issue. Mr. Mikołajczyk emphasized the importance of monitoring global finance and the global economy to ensure the stability of the Polish and EU banking sector. Although the problems in the US banking sector did not directly affect Poland, the experience gained from these events can be utilized for supervisory purposes.
In this context, the Deputy Chairman also noted that the problems faced by the American banks were primarily attributed to mismanagement and a departure from fundamental banking practices. Internal supervision was malfunctioning and so was the supervision of the banks by local competent authorities which simply neglected to focus on relevant key prudential issues. Gladly, the impact of the failures on other financial institutions and markets was limited.
Regarding the case of Credit Suisse, Mr. Mikołajczyk noted the significance of the functioning of AT1 instruments (Additional Tier 1 capital) and its relevance for Poland. He mentioned that the immediate response from EU supervisory authorities to the situation at Credit Suisse was invaluable for avoiding significant impacts on the EU financial system. These cases serve as valuable lessons that can be analyzed to draw conclusions and improve the stability of the banking sector in Poland. In conclusion, Mr. Mikołajczyk stated that the cases also showed that it is important to explore different paths to make the financial system more resilient: one way to do so is by introducing „the Long-Term Financing Index“ to better match financial assets with corresponding liabilities as promoted by the KNF.