LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND COOPERATIVE BANKS Summary

LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND COOPERATIVE BANKS
Summary
Poland’s accession to the European Union created new opportunities for Polish municipalities to intensify their investment. The investment in municipalities is based on their investment potential defined by own
revenues and external sources of capital for funding investment projects. In Poland the implementation of
further stages of the local government reform brought considerable increase in own revenues in 1995-2004. It
is to emphasise, however, that funds available for local authorities are less important than the involvement of
local communities in the implementation of key tasks. An example of such involvement is the participation in
the cooperative movement, for example cooperative banks that operate all over the country. At the moment,
particular entities belong to three associating banks: Bank Polskiej Spółdzielczości S.A., Spółdzielcza Grupa
Bankowa S.A. and Mazowiecki Bank Regionalny S.A. They all face a tough competition of commer-cial
banks that enjoy strong position on the market. Nevertheless, the cooperation between local authorities and
boards of local cooperative banks focusing on establishing the local capital market may become a driving force
behind the development of a given municipality and businesses. This is a practical implementation of the one
of basic local community qualities, namely creating local figures stimulating collective enterprise and social
and cultural activity. Such people become catalysers of local development.