The beginnings of the short-term debt securities market world-wide go back to the end of the 19th century. This method of financing business activities was used for the first time in the United States in response to the restrictions on corporate lending imposed by banks. Poland saw the first commercial papers in 1992 in the offer of Polski Bank Rozwoju.

The article offers a short description of the financial instrument i.e. a short-term debt instrument issued by a company - in terms of its form, the method used to determine its yield, interest rate, maturity and functioning, as well as the legal basis underlying short-term debt instrument trading. The process of issuing short-term securities is presented, accompanied by a description of the parties involved in the process i.e. issuers and investors, with particular emphasis on the role of banks in the process, and the secondary market arranging process. In addition, the article analyses changes on the short-term debt securities market which occurred in Poland between 1992 and 2000, preceded by the history of commercial paper markets abroad.