EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 23 October 2009 
on the extension of State Treasury support to financial institutions  
(CON/2009/82) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 13 October 2009 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Polish Minister for 
Finance for an opinion on a draft law amending the Law on the provision of State Treasury support to financial institutions (hereinafter the ‘draft law’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and the sixth indent of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 
29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Ce ntral Bank by national authorities regarding draft 
legislative provisions
1, as the draft law contains rules applicable  to financial institutions insofar as they 
materially influence the stability of financial ins titutions and markets. In accordance with the first 
sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing Council 
has adopted this opinion. 
 1.  Purpose of the draft law 1.1 The draft law amends the Law of 12 February 2009 on the provision of State Treasury support to 
financial institutions
2 (hereinafter the ‘Law of 12 February  2009’) on which the ECB was consulted 
at the drafting stage in November 20083. The Law of 12 February 2009 introduced a scheme 
whereby various support measures were o ffered to eligible financial institutions4, including: 
(i) State guarantees for the repayment of refinanc ing credit (extended to a bank by Narodowy Bank 
Polski) or a credit facility or loan provided with in a line of credit (extended by a bank to another 
bank); (ii) loans of Treasury securities; and (iii) pr eferential sales of Treasury securities to financial 
institutions. Under the provisions currently in for ce, the support measures are available to eligible 
financial institutions until 31 December 20095.  
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
2  As published in Dziennik Ustaw  of 2009 No 39, Item 308. 
3 See Opinion CON/2008/80; all ECB opinions are publis hed on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu. 
4  The Law of 12 February 2009, as adopted by  the Parliament, specified six categories  of financial institutions established 
in Poland that were eligible for the support measures : banks, credit unions, investment funds, brokerage houses, 
insurance companies and pension funds. 
5  Article 20(1) and (2) of the Law of 12 February 2009. 
2 1.2 Since the Polish Government intends to ‘prepa re for further potential consequences of the global 
financial crisis …’6, the aim of the draft law is to extend the deadline by which eligible financial 
institutions may apply for support to 31 December 20107. At the same time, attention is drawn in 
the explanatory memorandum to the fact that ‘g ranting support under the Law must be preceded by 
a notification of the scheme to the Commission’8, and that under the existing State aid approval 
support measures may be a pplied until 25 March 20109. Hence, the draft law introduces a provision 
under which the extension will apply from when the Commission’s State aid approval is granted10. 
1.3 The draft law does not change the conditions of  support, the criteria by which the eligibility of 
financial institutions is assessed or any parameters  of the support scheme other than the deadline by 
which eligible financial ins titutions may apply for support. 
 2. Specific observations 2.1 Interaction of the draft law with monetary policy decisions 
2.1.1 Since the aim of the draft law is to extend th e scope of the support scheme laid down in the Law of 
12 February 2009 on which the ECB has already been  consulted, the ECB would like to reiterate 
certain points mentioned in its Opinion CON/2008/80 that are important from the perspective of monetary policy. 
2.1.2 First, the ECB notes that the Law of 12 February 2009 does not explicitly exclude interbank 
deposits from among the obligations that may be se cured with a State guarantee. Although the draft 
law amends the Law of 12 February 2009, th e ECB understands that it does not include 
amendments which explicitly exclude interbank de posits. In this respect, the ECB reiterates its 
view that State guarantees to cover interbank depos its should be avoided as they have the potential 
to interfere with the conduct of the central bank’ s liquidity-providing operations, and thus have an 
impact on the transmission of Narodowy Ba nk Polski’s monetary policy decisions
11. 
2.1.3 Second, the ECB understands that the Law of 12 February 2009 introduces an explicit legal basis 
for the provision of State guarantees securing the repayment of Narodowy Bank Polski’s 
refinancing credit, including in cases where su ch credit is provided as emergency liquidity 
assistance (ELA). In this context the ECB would like to reiterate12 that, in order to ensure that the 
extension by national central banks of ELA secured by a State guarantee complies with the monetary financing prohibition, it is essential th at the State guarantee covers 100 % of the amount 
                                                 
6  See the explanatory memorandum  to the draft law, p. 1. 
7  Article 20(1) of the Law of 12 February 2009, as amended by Article 1(1) of the draft law. 
8  See the explanatory memorandum  to the draft law, p. 1. 
9 Case No N 208/2009, approval granted on 25 Septembe r 2009 for a period of six months from that date.  
10  See Article 1(2) of the draft law, adding a new para graph 3 in Article 20 of the Law of 12 February 2009. 
11  See sub-paragraph 3.2(i) of Opinion CON/2008/80; see al so, for example, paragraph 3.2 of Opinion CON/2008/50 and 
paragraph 2.3 of Opinion CON/2008/54. 
12  See paragraph 4.3 of Opinion CON/2008/80. 
3 of the credit where such guarantee would constitu te the sole form of collateral for the ELA 
operation, and not only up to 50 % of the amount rema ining for repayment, as stated in the Law of 
12 February 200913. 
2.2 Temporary nature of the scheme  
In line with the conclusions of the Ecofin Council of 7 October 2008 and the Declaration issued by 
the Heads of State of the euro area on 12 Oct ober 2008, the ECB notes that harmonisation of the 
measures implemented at national level is essential to ensure the integration of financial markets 
within the European Union. In this regard, th e ECB emphasises that coordination regarding the 
duration of national financial support schemes across the EU is of crucial importance in order to 
ensure a level playing field14. In addition, the ECB stresses the need for national support measures 
to be temporary in nature15. It is therefore assumed that the temporary nature of the support scheme 
introduced under the Law of 12 February 2009 is essentially maintained under the draft law and 
that the involvement of the Polish State will be limited in time. 
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   Done at Frankfurt am Main, 23 October 2009. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
                                                 
13  See Article 4(2) of the Law of 12 February 2009. 
14 See ECB Opinions CON/2009/24, paragraph 3.1, CON/2009/ 54, paragraph 2.5.2 and CON/2009/73, paragraph 3.2. 
15 See ECB Opinions CON/2009/24, paragraph 2.2, CON/ 2009/62, paragraph 3.3 and C ON/2009/73, paragraph 3.2.