Do Cooperative Banks Really Serve Agricultural Sector in Poland?

The aim of the paper is to assess the potential of cooperative banks for serving agricultural sector in Poland and to identify the areas with the most development potential. We discuss the transformation process in the cooperative banking system under market economy, and in particular investigate importance of cooperative banks for farms' financing on the basis of our survey of banks. Moreover, the role of cooperative banks in transmission of Government policy supporting farm sector in Poland is discussed. We find that despite growing competition from the commercial banking sector, farms and rural households in Poland are still of major importance for the cooperative banks in Poland.