Filip Kliber

In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of the risks that climate change poses to the wider economy. One can also notice a growing interest in the topic among other central bank representatives. This article aims to characterize the changes that have taken place in the ECB’s narrative on ‘green’ central bank policies over the last few years. It will outline how ECB Executive Board members perceive the impact of climate change on the ECB’s objectives, as well as what solutions have been and are being proposed in this context. Finally, it will be indicated which proposals have been transferred from the narrative level to the action level. The speeches of the ECB Executive Board members from 2018 to 2024 posted on the ECB website, in which ‘climate change’ appears as one of the keywords, are analysed. In addition, it will be indicated which ‘green monetary policy’ measures have been included in official ECB documents such as annual reports.

In recent years, major phenomena such as the digital revolution, the COVID-19 pandemic, wars, and political turmoil have significantly affected people’s lives, economies, and financial markets. Modern technologies and product innovations have transformed banking and banking systems. Traditional banks remain crucial as financial institutions and entities of public trust. However, new players like digital banks, FinTech, and BigTech present challenges and risks. Money and payment methods are evolving, with central bank digital currencies emerging as potential substitutes for cash, while cashless payments and digital wallets grow increasingly popular. These developments call for an update of existing knowledge. This book serves as a comprehensive guide to these changes. It is divided into three parts: the first focuses on money and monetary systems, the second on banks and their functioning, and the third on selected banking systems. Each section contains illustrations, data, practical examples, and links to external resources, enhancing the book’s scope and significance. Designed for students studying banking, finance, or economics at various levels, this book is also a valuable resource for academic teachers seeking clear, non-technical explanations of money and banking systems.

Research background: People who take non-banking loans are primarily perceived as excluded from accessing bank services. The growth of e-commerce and the increasing digitalisation of customer interactions with banks was particularly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic (the first ‘black swan’). These processes have also influenced the rapid growth of the LendTech (LT) sector within FinTech with its digital loans and buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services. The war in Ukraine (the second ‘black swan’) has led to an energy crisis, increased inflation, interest rates and credit costs, and reduced credit accessibility. In this context, the following research questions are addressed: Are the LT and banking sectors complementary or substitutive in the area of consumer financing? Does complementarity apply to all customer segments and loan amounts? How does the extent of complementarity or substitutability of the LT sector depend on, and to what extent do changes in the regulatory and macroeconomic environment affect, the interaction between the banking and LT sectors? Purpose of the article: The aim of the article is to identify trends in the LT sector within FinTech in the context of assessing the scale and determinants of current and future complementarity of the non-bank sector and the banking sector in the area of consumer credit in time of black swans. An additional purpose of the article is to estimate revenues from the basic operating activities of companies from the on-line channel. Methods: The research process was multi-stage and the research procedure was structured. Due to the lack of a uniform source of data on LT products and services, the study used many data sources — data from the Credit Information Bureau, a primary nationwide survey on LT users a primary survey of people representing LT's managerial staff. The selection of LTs was carried out according to the concept of the monetary sampling unit. The Horvitz-Thompson estimator with Sen‐Yates‐Grundy variance form was used to estimate net operating income for LT from the online channel in 2021. Findings & value added: The LT companies surveyed state that black swans (the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine) and the current macroeconomic situation have not significantly affected demand for non-banking loans. The reduction in the opportunities for the LT sector as a result of anti-usury regulations will only lead to a shift in consumer demand to the pawnshop sector and the shadow economy, which will be detrimental to consumers. Complementarity between LT and the banking sector is revealed especially in crisis situations, thus limiting the effects of market shock (limited supply of loans offered by banks). In periods of stabilisation, a rather clear division of preferences is noticeable – in the case of seniors and loans for higher amounts, banks dominate, while in the case of lower amounts and in younger age groups, non-bank institutions are more popular. The mechanism by which shrinking banking services are replaced by LT in short-term crises confirms the importance of LT in balancing the Consumer Finance market in the face of unstable periods. From a medium- and long-term perspective, it should be noted that inflation and rising interest rates will increase the scale of credit exclusion in commercial banks, shifting part of the demand to the non-bank sector. These phenomena have an international dimension. Similar observations were made already in 2012 by the CFPB in the USA and the British FTA, when analysing the consumer finance market immediately after the subprime crisis, emphasising the effects of limiting access to bank consumer loans and the resulting growth of the LT market (Gębski, 2013).

Research background: According to the World Bank (2020), about 60% of adults in developing countries do not use formal financial services. Furthermore, according to the Polish Association of Loan Institutions (2022), about 3 million Poles use loans, most of them obtained online. Among the reasons for more than a decade of growth of interest in the non-bank consumer lending market there are the development of modern technology applications in finance and the establishment of the Lendtech sector. Purpose of the article: The main goal of the paper is to verify the role played by the Lendtech (LT) sector in the consumer credit market in the context of household financial exclusion. The following research questions were asked: Do credit-excluded households take advantage of LT services and, if so, to what extent? What are the behaviours and preferences of those who use consumer credit offered by LT? Do socio-demographic characteristics determine consumer use of loans offered by LT and, if so, what are they? Is the use of loans offered by LT due to credit exclusion or other factors? What action should be taken by participants in the digital consumer loan market interested in its inclusive direction? Methods: The paper uses the following methods: critical analysis of the literature, Kruskal-Wallis test, Mann-Whitney test, and nonparametric regression algorithm: k-nearest neighbors, as well as inductive inference methods. The data used is primary in nature and comes from a nationwide survey, September 2022 (CAWI method) of 1,200 Poles, of whom 200 respondents are Lendtech customers. The quota selection applied made it possible to reflect characteristics corresponding to the population of customers of lending institutions registered in BIK databases. Findings & value added: The article is a pioneering study based on an independent scientific survey, devoted to the Polish LT services market considered in terms of its relationship with one of the types of financial exclusion: credit exclusion. The most important conclusion is that people at risk of credit exclusion find a financing substitute in the LT sector, and thus it plays an important role in reducing financial exclusion, while maintaining the principle of creditworthiness verification.

From the experiences of the strategy of the inflation target in Poland – implementation and assessment attempt. Since 1999 Direct Inflation Targeting hed been the foundation of polish central bank monetary policy. The implementation of this strategy took place in changing economic and institutional conditions. It was also accompanied by profound changes in the monetary policy itself. The main aim of this paper is to present the premises and conditions for the implementation of the Inflation Targeting strategy, with particular emphasis on the structure and assumptions adopted in Poland. The implementation of the Inflation Targeting strategy in Poland in individual years was also characterized as well as the factors - positive and negative - influencing its effectiveness. A literature review on the effectiveness of the implementation of the Inflation Targeting strategy in Poland was also carried out and an original attempt was made to synthetically evaluate the inflation target implemented by the NBP.