The notion of financial market institutions comprises many categories of agents. These include agents managing the funds entrusted to them by third parties and dealing in broadly understood transactions in financial instruments. Others include guarantee funds, financial intermediaries and the central bank, whose statutory responsibility is to secure the liquidity of the entire monetary system.

The author outlines the institutions operating in the Polish financial market, giving a brief overwiev of the key problems of this market.

The following organisations have been covered:

1. banks, SKOK cooperative credit associations and the Bank Guarantee Fund;
2. insurance companies and the Insurance Guarantee Fund;
3. investment funds;
4. pension funds;
5. brokerage houses;
6. the National Depositary for Securities.

In the author's assessment, the institutions of the Polish financial market, in spite of certain shortcomings, generally meet the standards of world financial markets.

The official documents of the Polish Government concerning the country's adaptation to the requirements of the single EU market recommend that the Polish institutions should radically improve their performance; a need to strengthen them with more capital is also pointed out. No changes however are required to the institutions themselves.

Thus in the pre-accession period Poland needs a policy in support of restructuring, consolidation and privatisation of financial institutions, also through the involvement of foreign investors. These efforts should result in an increased efficiency of the sector, which would prepare it for the competition from the EU.