The principle of proportionality and reporting burdens cooperative banks (SNCI entities) in Poland

Abstract

The article concerns the issue of reporting burdens on cooperative banks in Poland. These are entities referred to as SNCI (Small and Non-Complex Institutions), i.e. small and not conducting comprehensive financial activities. Meanwhile, they are constantly required to prepare and send numerous reports to many different institutions. Such a situation is incomprehensible when one of the fundamental principles of the European Union is recalled – the principle of proportionality, which was intended to limit this type of practice. The main purpose of the article was to assess the reporting burden of cooperative banks in Poland and to indicate the possibility of changes in this area based on own research. The research hypothesis was: cooperative banks in Poland are burdened with too many reports and there are possibilities to reduce some of them. The research methods were: in-depth literature studies, desk research analysis, surveys conducted using the CAWI method in March–April 2023 on a group of 96 presidents of management boards of cooperative banks operating in Poland. The main conclusions from the research were the confirmation of the excessive burden of cooperative banks with many legally required reports for various institutions, the repeatability of information provided in various reports and the existence of space to limit the preparation of certain reports by cooperative banks, and, above all, the effective implementation of the proportionality principle for cooperative banks.