Every well-developed economy is characterised by its fully established and developed capital market. One of the main purposes it serves is the redistribution of the capital. The surplus on savings spent by investors on shares can be used by companies to finance their investment projects. Another important function of the capital market is the valuation of the capital on the secondary market which, in Poland, is handled by the Warsaw Stock Exchange (Giełda Papierów Wartościowych w Warszawie) and where public trading of securities takes place. Due to the centralisation of shares trading on the Stock Exchange, companies can be in contact with a considerable number of prospective investors.

The paper presents the most important factors which, according to the author, hamper the development of the share market in Poland. Those factors can be categorised as follows:

Overcoming the obstacles to the development of the share market have become the main objective of all institutions active on the capital market as well as of the Polish Government. Co-operation in this field may result in the successful removal of barriers currently hampering the development of the share market and in preventing the Polish Stock Exchange from marginalisation.