The deadline for the liquidation of the WIBOR index by 2037, indicated by the WSE Benchmark and assessed by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, is optimal and safe in the opinion of the Ministry of Finance, said Jurand Drop, Deputy Minister of Finance, at a meeting of the Sejm committee.
— By the end of 2036, i.e. over 10 years, the indicators (WIBOR and WIBID – ed.) will be in the so-called orderly liquidation. After this period, i.e. after January 1, 2037, they will no longer be developed. However, they will be continuously calculated for 10 years so that they can be used in contracts that currently exist on the market. The decision is irrevocable and was made in accordance with applicable law. The date of cessation of WIBOR indicated by the administrator and supervisor is, also in the opinion of the Ministry of Finance, optimal and safe, said Drop.
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The deputy minister cited the assessment of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, which found that the indicated date of WIBOR liquidation makes it possible to achieve the contractual maturity of the vast majority of financial assets in which reference indices are currently used.
Moreover, the Polish Financial Supervision Authority concluded that the over 10-year period of orderly liquidation of the WIBOR indicator enables financial market participants to take actions aimed at reducing all exposures related to this indicator, including amending contracts, modifying the terms and conditions of the issue of debt securities, their early redemption, or closing positions on derivative instruments.
As we wrote in February, experts feared a “cliff” related to the withdrawal of WIBOR. — It is based not only on loans and other banking products, such as leasing and factoring, but also on corporate and treasury bonds. Replacing this entire big wallet in a few months is quite a bold idea. It seems that there are ways to carry out the entire operation more safely and calmly, said one of the bankers, speaking on condition of anonymity. The change in approach means that signing annexes by clients or mass conversion of indicators from WIBOR to POLSTR in active contracts will not be necessary.
The Ministry of Finance emphasizes the need to stagger the liquidation of WIBOR
— At the Ministry of Finance, we analyzed the situation on an ongoing basis. We wanted the process to be fully orderly and safe for all parties, evolutionary, not revolutionary, to minimize legal risks. We welcome the approach of orderly liquidation of WIBOR, gentle and spread over time. I think we are prepared for this and in our opinion the whole process is going as it should be, Drop added.
The deputy minister of finance announced that the ministry sees “large, normal demand” from market participants for floating-coupon treasury securities based on POLSTR. This is an indicator of the Risk Free Rate type (RFR, based mainly on transactions, unlike WIBOR, i.e. an IBOR-type index, which is relatively transactional to a small extent and based on binding bank declarations). The Minister added that as of June 8, 2026, the volume of issued Treasury securities from POLSTR is PLN 40 billion.
See also: The new indicator is already in banks. What will POLSTR change for borrowers?
In accordance with the May decision of GPW Benchmark, the administrator of the WIBOR and WIBID indices, the last day of development and publication of the key WIBOR reference indicator will be December 31, 2036, therefore January 1, 2037 is assumed to be the date of its orderly liquidation.
Banks are ready, production at POLSTR has already started
In line with the cessation approach adopted by GPW Benchmark WIBOR and WIBID under their orderly liquidation and the position of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, new contracts based on these indicators should not be concluded after December 31, 2026. From January 1, 2027, these indicators will be used only to service existing contracts, until their use ends on January 1, 2037. At the same time, the financial market is switching to the new POLSTR reference indicator.
Michał Kruszka, director of the Department of Research and Regulatory Supervision of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, assessed that banks are fully prepared for the wave of loan refinancing after switching to the new POLSTR indicator.
— The phenomenon of refinancing and switching from one form of interest to another has been observed on our financial market for at least two years. Already at this point, the share of new financing, as refinancing financing, is approximately even 20 percent. offers, Kruszka said.
