Trust funds provide the most popular form of savings investment. They constitute an integral part of any developed capital market, accounting for a big chunk of both supply and demand. They enjoy particular popularity in the United States, where their assets in per capita terms reach several thousand dollars.

In Poland, trust funds have been operating for only a very short time. The increase in the number of funds has been uneven; investors have not manifested excessive interest in this form of investment. Consequently, the role of trust funds in the Polish capital market is marginal.

Recently, considerable changes have taken place in the division of the trust fund market in Poland. The share of PPTFI (Pioneer, the First Polish Trust Fund) - the oldest such fund in Poland - has been falling steadily. Otherwise, the funds achieved good results in 1999.

The growth of trust funds in Poland is fundamentally constrained by the fact that Polish savers have not fully adopted the concept of trust fund as an effective vehicle of investment.