Foreign investment funds to be offered by e-banks

Polish financial institutions plan, by the end of this year, to introduce the sale of shares in renowned foreign investment funds as a form of capital saving. The expansion of the foreign funds' offer could have commenced in October, when Poland came to an agreement with the EU concerning free flow of capital. The first banks to announce plans to offer these stakes are Internet-based mBank and Inteligo. The spokesperson for mBank, Szymon Midera, did not reveal any specific information concerning the names of the funds, though he did confirm that the bank would send the offer to several hundred of its clients in a few days. Artur Wieckowski of Inteligo did not want to specify when exactly the bank would start offering the shares. "The project is currently at a very advanced stage," he said. Since the end of 2000, the total capital managed by all investment funds in Poland has grown from zl. 7.1 billion to zl. 18.7 billion. According to ING, in a couple of years, the assets of these funds may grow to as much as zl. 40 billion. In comparison, the value of all investment funds in the USA far exceeds $4,000 billion. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 24) A.K