The Liquidation of the Polish Bank Plc and the Creation of the National Bank of Poland

Abstract

This study examines the liquidation of the Polish Bank Plc (established in 1924), which occurred after the World War II, and the creation of the National Bank of Poland. The idea of establishing the latter institution was born at a gathering of Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKWN) in 1944 in Moscow while the Polish Bank continued in exile. That fact undeniably proved that Poland had suffered a loss of sovereignty.

Another weighty issue discussed here relates to the systemic position of the Polish Bank Plc, and the National Bank of Poland (since 1945), as well as mutual relations of both institutions. These issues constitute the main share of the Author’s considerations whose aim is to provide an answer the question whether one can speak of the legacy of the pre-war Polish Bank Plc, or whether a completely new currency-issuing institution was born.