Specjalizacja czy uniwersalizm? Rozważania o bankowości hipotecznej w Polsce na tle regulacji czeskich - aspekty prawne

Abstract

For the purpose of strengthening the impulses of the housing and infrastructural development, in 1997 the bill about letters of charge and mortgage banks was passed, which after over fifty years restored the institution of specialist mortgage banks and letters of charge to the Polish banking system. In compliance with the legislator’s foundation mortgage banks were supposed to stimulate the development of the real estate market in Poland. The basic aim that the legislator wanted to reach choosing the concept of the specialization of mortgage banks, was to guarantee the safety of letters of charge. The legislator’s intention was to introduce to the Polish banking system, based on the concept of universalism, the exception in the form of a specialist institution of the long-term credit (the mortgage bank) whose activity will mostly be refinanced by issuing a particular category of securities (the letter of charge) reserved for it. It ought to be pointed out that not all the solutions accepted by the legislator have proved good in the last ten years since the Mortgage Banks Act was introduced. A large number of amendments and poor development of this banking sector may testify to this. Thereby, evaluating the present state of the mortgage banking development, it should be questioned whether the concept of mortgage banks specialisation deserves further support. At present in the Polish banking sector there are only two mortgage banks. In connection with the unfavourable legal environment, many financial institutions, in spite of their advanced preparations, have given up the idea of founding specialist mortgage banks. The existing mortgage banks lose with universal banks in the competition for the customer on the market of long-term credits financing the purchase of real estate, in spite of their high specialization and the possibility of gaining capital through the external letter of charge, which according to the legislator’s foundations was supposed to give them an advantage over universal banks in terms of costs. It seems that the Polish legislator should consider the possibility of making changes in the banking sector such as giving up the concept of mortgage banks specialization and unifying the catalogue of bank activities as well as universilising the banking activity.