On Friday, the Polish Financial Supervision Authority unanimously agreed to the appointment of Andrzej Jakubiak for the position of president of the Commercial Bank Protection System (SOBK).
Andrzej Jakubiak is a lawyer and public official, best known for serving as the chairman of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (2011–2016). His one term of office was marked by stabilizing the banking sector after the financial crisis and restructuring the cooperative credit unions (SKOK) sector.
Born in 1959, the official is a graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw. After graduation, he worked at the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. He worked for the central bank for 15 years (1991–2006). He held a number of key functions there, including: director of the legal department and member of the NBP management board (1998–2006).
After leaving the National Bank of Poland, he was appointed to the position Deputy Mayor of the capital city Warsaw (alongside Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz). He was responsible for, among others: for real estate management. He worked at the town hall in the years 2006–2011.
After the end of his term at the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, he joined the private sector (mBank), which sparked discussions and was considered a controversial move, because quickly after leaving the Polish Financial Supervision Authority he joined the entity that he had previously directly supervised (the so-called business-government revolving door).
In December 2018, he was detained (together with former deputy Wojciech Kwaśniak) in connection with an investigation into the supervision of SKOK Wołomin. The prosecutor's office accused the former officials of failing to fulfill their duties, but in February 2019, the court found Jakubiak's detention itself unjustified. Andrzej Jakubiak pleads not guilty, pointing out that it was the actions of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority under his leadership that led to the disclosure of irregularities in SKOKs.
What is the Commercial Bank Protection System (SOBK)
Previously, the president of SOBK was Tomasz Kubiak, a well-known banker who worked for years at Pekao (where he was vice-president responsible for finance), was an advisor to the management board of mBank, and now sits on the management board of VeloBank. A member of the SOBK management board is Paweł Wajda, professor at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw, Department of Administrative Law and Procedure.
SOBK is a joint-stock company established by the eight largest commercial banks in Poland (participant banks) on the basis of the provisions specified in Chapter 10a of the Banking Law. This institution was established ad hoc in mid-2022, anticipating the need to save Getin Noble Bank as part of resolution. It turned out that Leszek Czarnecki's former bank was in terrible condition.
GNB did not meet the so-called MREL requirements (minimum own funds and liabilities subject to write-down or conversion in the event of resolution) and the restructuring itself took place late, when the bank had practically no capital left (so the shortfall was greater than in the optimal resolution scenario). If there was no SOBK and resolution would be carried out, approximately PLN 2.6-2.7 billion of deposits would be written off unguaranteed (including local government units would suffer).
SOBK is a de facto private IPS (Institutional Protection Scheme) created on the initiative of banks such as: Alior, BNP Paribas Bank Polska, ING BSK, mBank, Bank Millennium, Bank Pekao, PKO BP and Santander BP (they contributed PLN 3.5 billion). These banks are members of SOBK and their representatives sit on the supervisory board.
See also: Getin Noble. We explain the background of the forced restructuring of Leszek Czarnecki's former bank
“The mission and task of SOBK is to support the financial security of its participants and clients' funds and the stability of the banking sector by supporting the forced restructuring carried out by BFG and the takeover of the bank referred to in Article 146 of the Banking Law. This support is implemented using various financial instruments (such as a loan, subsidy or other) financed from funds accumulated in the Assistance Fund established for this purpose and originating from initial or voluntary contributions of participant banks” – we read on the SOBK website.
“Thanks to these measures and specific support instruments, SOBK complements the financial security system in Poland, and its creation by participant banks contributes to increasing the stability of the sector and the security of customer funds,” it added.
