POLSTR designated as a significant benchmark
The Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) on 21 August 2026 designated the POLSTR (Polish Short Term Rate) benchmark as a significant benchmark1.
The designation of POLSTR as a significant benchmark was made pursuant to Article 24(3) of the Benchmarks Regulation (BMR)2 and was justified by the fact that any cessation of the provision of the POLSTR benchmark could have a significant adverse impact on market integrity and the financial market in Poland, as well as by the absence of appropriate market-led substitute benchmarks.
The POLSTR benchmark was selected by the Steering Committee of the National Working Group on benchmark reform (NWG) in December 2024 as the recommended interest rate benchmark that could take over the role of the critical benchmark WIBOR in the event of the cessation of its provision. The reform concerning the WIBOR and WIBID benchmarks also assumes that POLSTR will be increasingly used in financial contracts and instruments.
POLSTR currently serves as the main benchmark for new issues of floating–rate treasury bonds in Poland. Furthermore, POLSTR was used in bonds issued by the Polish Development Bank (BGK) under the COVID-19 Response Fund. The POLSTR benchmark is also used by the Polish investment fund sector (as a reference element, i.e. a benchmark against which investment funds compare their own investments and achieved performance).
Domestic and foreign clearing houses with CCP status (KDPW_CCP, Eurex, LCH) have achieved regulatory and operational readiness to commence central clearing of OIS (Overnight Index Swap) derivative transactions, for which POLSTR will be the interest rate benchmark. The first transactions of this type heave already been cleared.
As of 26 August 2026 , the total scale of use of the POLSTR benchmark in the Polish financial market exceeded EUR 18.5 bn.
As of 1 January 2026, the BMR was amended, particularly regarding its scope of application. Currently, the BMR applies to critical benchmarks, significant benchmarks, EU Climate Transition Benchmarks, and EU Paris-aligned Benchmarks, as well as to certain commodity benchmarks.
The designation of POLSTR as a significant benchmark implies that its revision remains subject to the requirements of the BMR and to supervision by the KNF.
In this matter, the KNF consulted with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). The advice provided by ESMA confirmed the validity of designating POLSTR as a significant benchmark.
GPW Benchmark S.A., the administrator of the POLSTR benchmark, already holds an authorisation from the KNF to provide benchmarks under the BMR and will therefore not be required to apply for a new authorisation.
The POLSTR benchmark will be included in the public register of benchmarks maintained by the ESMA.
| Benchmark Full name | Administrator Full name | Administrator Country | Relevant authority | Date of decision to designate as significant under Article 24(3) BMR | Applied EU/EEA Status |
| Polish Short Term Rate (POLSTR) | GPW Benchmark SA | Poland | KNF | 21 August 2026 | Authorisation under Article 34 of the BMR |
The decision, along with the background regarding the designation of the POLSTR benchmark as significant, is available in Polish and can be found at the following link: https://dziennikurzedowy.knf.gov.pl/DU_KNF/2026/17/akt.pdf
______________________1 This also applies to the entire POLSTR Family of Compound Indexes, i.e., the POLSTR 1M Compound Rate, the POLSTR 3M Compound Rate, the POLSTR 6M Compound Rate, and the POLSTR Compound Index.
2 Regulation (EU) 2016/1011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on indices used as benchmarks in financial instruments and financial contracts or to measure the performance of investment funds and amending Directives 2008/48/EC and 2014/17/EU and Regulation (EU) No 596/2014.
