How can long-term investments be effectively stimulated through the capital market, and what regulatory changes are needed to achieve this? This was the central question of the debate titled “Stimulating Long-Term Investment through the Capital Market,” held on 26 February during the “Risk and Regulation” seminar in Warsaw at the headquarters of the Urząd Komisji Nadzoru Finansowego.

The discussion focused on the development of infrastructure funds, the mobilization of domestic savings, and the role of long-term savings programs – including Pracownicze Plany Kapitałowe (PPK).

PPK Growing at the Fastest Pace Since Launch

One of the key themes of the debate was the dynamic growth of PPK. Mariusz Jaszczyk, Vice President of the Polski Fundusz Rozwoju (PFR), highlighted a significant increase in the number of participants in recent months.

“In 2025, nearly 36,700 people joined PPK on average each month. In January 2026 alone, more than 61,000 new participants enrolled. I believe this reflects the growing recognition among employees of the tangible benefits offered by the program. Thanks to the very strong performance of the capital market, PPK assets increased by 49% last year. On average, a PPK participant has accumulated more than twice the amount they personally contributed. It is difficult to achieve such a return elsewhere,” said the PFR Vice President.

These figures demonstrate not only the expanding scale of the program but also growing trust in long-term retirement savings. PPK is increasingly serving as a stable source of domestic capital with a tangible impact on Poland’s economic development.

Infrastructure Funds and Regulatory Challenges

An important part of the discussion concerned enabling investment funds managing long-term programs such as PPK, PPE, IKE, IKZE, and pension funds (OFE) to become more actively involved in infrastructure projects and private market investments.

The PFR Vice President emphasized the need to review existing regulations:

“From a regulatory perspective, it is worth considering amendments that would allow financial institutions managing OFE or PPK to invest in infrastructure funds. This also means that such funds need to be established, and this is likely an area where PFR could play a role.”

He also pointed to the need for changes regarding valuation principles and investment limits, which currently restrict greater long-term capital engagement in private market assets. Work is already underway on solutions that would allow long-term funds to allocate part of their assets to non-listed instruments, with a focus on stable, multi-year returns.

Development of the Capital Market

Participants agreed that Poland has a growing pool of domestic savings. The key challenge remains creating regulatory and institutional frameworks that effectively channel this capital into long-term investments—particularly infrastructure, energy, and technology projects.

In this context, PPK was identified as one of the pillars of building domestic capital: a systematically expanding mechanism, resilient to short-term market volatility, and based on automatic enrollment and saving. Panelists emphasized that PPK is among the best-designed programs of its kind globally—simple in structure and offering risk profiles tailored to savers.

The panel’s conclusions were clear: further development of the capital market requires balancing regulatory stability with investment flexibility. With PPK assets exceeding PLN 48 billion, the foundations of long-term saving in Poland are steadily strengthening.

pfr.pl