Financial institutions influence the shape of the capital market by the way in which they deposit their funds. The impact of the banking sector, focused mainly on lending, is different from the impact of investment funds or pension funds that use mainly the securities market. In the case of that market, financial institutions form a group of institutional investors. They may drive the market development thanks to their volume of assets and their knowledge. Since fund depositing is usually their basic activity, allowing them to win customers, they force the market to develop, which facilitates their depositing of the capital entrusted to them. The main prerequisites include appropriate volume and competition. Institutional investors may positively influence the securities market for instance in the following areas: increasing the protection of minority shareholders on the public stock market, developing new financial products, increasing the operating efficiency of the market, lowering costs of gaining capital, supporting new legal regulations.

The banking sector has long dominated the Polish market. This sector provides a relatively small part of its funds to companies via the securities market, which means that it is not greatly involved in the development of this market. Recent years saw a growing significance of investment funds, insurers, and especially of pension funds. This group strongly focuses on the securities market in its depositing policy. The growing importance of such institutions, as a result of their growing assets volume, will increasingly stimulate the development of the securities market. Pension funds should play a leading role among these institutions in the coming years.