Controversy over doubling of laws on PP's banking operations

In two weeks the Sejm is to decide about the bill on postal services which will allow Poczta Polska (PP) to carry out banking activities on the behalf of financial institutions. PP will be allowed, among others, to transfer money within Poland and abroad, issue banking cards, carry out cheque operations and grant loans. "The National Bank of Poland (NBP) thinks that passing a special law to allow a single institution to enjoy certain rights is wrong," argues NBP's Deputy President Jerzy Stopyra. This statement may be considered as surprising, as the Bank was the author of some amendments to the bill, for instance those which force closer co-operation between Bank Pocztowy and its majority shareholder PP. "We think that particular issues on providing financial services for institutions will be included in the outsourcing bill and therefore do not need a separate bill," said the head of General Inspectorate for Banking Supervision (GINB). According to some of the bill's critics, it might threaten co-operative banks, as PP would become their direct competitor. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 9) M.M.