Study visit to the National Bank of Poland

On January 8, 2024, there was a study visit of students operating in the International Finance Scientific Club at the Faculty of Economics and specialising in international finance and banking in the field of international economic relations (III year SS1 and II year SS2) at the headquarters of the National Bank of Poland Branch in Gdańsk.

The visit aimed to familiarise students with the specificity of the operation of the central bank from the point of view of the processes accompanying the implementation of monetary policy, the payment system and the supervision of monetary circulation cycles and reporting on currency and monetary operations at the level of the district branch.

The organiser of the study visit was Dr. Magdalena Markiewicz, supervisor of the international finance and banking specialisation and supervisor of the International Finance Scientific Club at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Gdańsk.

The course of the visit to the regional branch of the NBP in Gdańsk

During the study visit, students could learn a lot of exciting information about the building in which the headquarters of the NBP Branch is located, whose history dates back to the 19th century.

The building had been functioning as a bank headquarters since 1906, and during World War II the building was not destroyed, which is why we can still see the extraordinary interior of the bank. We also saw historical photos of the NBP building in the branch building.

The most important point of the event regarding content was the meeting with Mr. Wiktor Kamiński, Director of the O/O NBP in Gdańsk.

The visit began with familiarising students with the tasks of the NBP regional branch. Director Wiktor Kamiński presented and discussed various aspects of Poland's central banking and monetary policy. In his speech, the Director touched on many interesting topics regarding the activities of central banks.

The Director then explained what the work looks like from the inside and what NBP employees do, which allowed us to understand the roles of such a branch better. Unlike the Warsaw headquarters, the activities of NBP regional branches differ. Local units focus on collecting data from relevant voivodeships and tracking changes in the real estate market.

The scope of activities of the district branch was also discussed. It was fascinating to learn about the structure of the District Branch, which consists of: cash and treasury department, customer service department (offices and institutions), statistical and foreign exchange department (market research, real estate market).

During the meeting, various extremely interesting topics were discussed, from the issuance of digital money through the purchase and sale of bonds, money liquidity and open market operations, the issuance of collector coins, determinants and consequences of adopting the euro, to the real estate crisis in 2008 and its consequences.

In addition, topics related to operations within the payment system and the activities of the central bank and its regional branches at the beginning of the war abroad were discussed. The topic of electronic money as central banks' currency was particularly interesting.

Students asked many questions about these aspects, which are essential phenomena affecting the country's economy and our everyday lives. The visit was very informative and provided valuable information on aspects of the functioning of the National Bank of Poland.

The study visit to the NBP was part of the inauguration of educational activities in 2024, the Year of Economic Education.

We would like to express our special thanks to the Director of the NBP Regional Branch in Gdańsk, Mr. Wiktor Kamiński and Ms. Joanna Świerczyńska for the opportunity to organize the visit.