Bank of Poland

The Bank of Poland (Bank Polski) is the name of two former banks in Poland, each of which acted as a central bank. The first was founded by Prince Francis Xavier Drucki-Lubecki in 1828 in the Congress Kingdom of Poland and functioned until 1885, when it was absorbed by the State Bank of the Russian Empire.

The second was founded in 1924 in the Second Polish Republic by Prime Minister Władysław Grabski and was liquidated in 1952.

Their legacy is continued by Poland's present central bank, the Polish National Bank, founded in 1945.

The first Bank of Poland was founded in Warsaw in 1828 by Prince Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki. An institution of the government of the Kingdom of Poland, it was entitled with issuance of the Polish currency as well as control over the credit rates. It was also entitled with a concession to operate foreign currencies and buy off credits issued by foreign companies and banks.

Throughout its existence, the Bank of Poland was allowed to issue banknotes and coins up to the amount of its (initially 30,000,000 złotych, 42 millions in 1834 and 53 millions in 1841). As a legal entity, the bank also financed a number of important enterprises in Russian-held Poland. Between 1829 and 1837 it spent a large part of its income on road construction, until 1842 it was also the main sponsor of the coal mining development in the region of Zagłębie and the Old Polish Industrial Area around Skarżysko-Kamienna. Seriously crippled by administrative measures after the November Uprising, after the January Uprising it was made subordinate directly to the Russian Imperial Ministry of Treasury. During the period of liquidation of Polish institutions following the failed uprising, in 1870 it was deprived of the rights of a currency issuing organ and banned from giving long-term credits.

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