Poland's phaseout of WIBOR to require adjusting monetary policy transmission tools, says NBP board member
Switching from WIBOR to the transaction-based POLSTR benchmark will require changes to the monetary policy transmission mechanism, Poland's central bank NBP management board member Artur Sobon told the European Financial Congress in Sopot, emphasising the importance of high-quality bank data.
"(...) The switch from a forward-looking benchmark like WIBOR to a purely transaction-based index such as POLSTR will require the adjustment of monetary policy transmission tools. In this sense, it will be up to the Monetary Policy Council to decide how transmission will function under the new benchmark. I cannot determine that today, but such adjustments will definitely be necessary," Sobon said.
"The most important issue for the central bank is the highest quality of data provided by banks for calculating the new risk-free rate index. We are cooperating with banks and the Polish banking lobby ZBP to develop mechanisms that ensure the highest possible data quality," he added.
According to the roadmap, in the first quarter of 2026, Polish banks will launch cash management products based on the new index, and from the second quarter of 2026, mortgage agreements with POLSTR will be available.
On June 2, GPW Benchmark, Poland's administrator of interest rate benchmarks, began publishing the POLSTR index and its composite family, fulfilling the first milestone of the updated reference rate reform roadmap. Bialek said this process was accelerated and that the benchmark statement, required under EU BMR regulations, will soon be released to detail the index’s features and rules.
Earlier on Tuesday, the head of Polish banking lobby ZBP Tadeusz Bialek announced that the next step of the reform was the first use of POLSTR in a contract or financial instrument, at which point it would officially become a reference benchmark.
Poland's Steering Committee of the National Working Group for the reference rate reform (KS NGR) confirmed in April that all financial instruments will be converted to POLSTR by the end of 2027, with WIBOR and WIBID publication ending in early 2028.
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