Capital market education, promotion and information activities are a statutory objective of the Exchange. WSE’s education activities also serve as a tool of building relations with individual investors who play an important role in generating liquidity on the market. WSE’s extensive educational offer fits into the Company’s strategic goals including a focus on its key clients.

In its current operations, the Exchange organises training, seminars and conferences to promote investing in financial instruments and knowledge about the capital market.

WSE’s educational activities in 2014:

  • School Online Exchange Game (SIGG) – a project devoted to investing, addressed to junior high school students, implemented since 2002 in partnership with the Lesław A. Paga Foundation, provides young people with practical skills necessary to invest on the exchange, analyse the markets, make decisions and work as a team. More than 22 thousand participants took part in the project in 2014;
  • Product training with Brokerage Houses – full-time and off-site product workshops co-organised with brokerage houses. 39 training sessions were held in 2014 in partnership with six brokerage houses.
  • Product training in partnership with higher schools and science clubs – 23 lectures on financial instruments listed on WSE were held in 2014.
  • Capital Creation Academy – a series of meetings in Poland’s biggest cities held several times per year in partnership with the Association of Individual Investors (SII), where experts share knowledge about the capital market, listed instruments and investment techniques. Two series of the Capital Creation Academy comprised of 12 training sessions in total were held in 2014.

WSE also participated in several educational initiatives addressed to potential issuers in 2014. The Company co-organised 11 workshops with the Lewiatan Co-federation, 5 conferences with the SME Foundation, as well as a series of training sessions organised by Authorised Advisers.

A flagship educational programme arranged by WSE for many years, the Exchange School, was reactivated in January 2014. The project includes courses which introduce beginners to investing and cover the following topics: the capital market and the exchange, the rules of investing, company analysis, risk assessment, the psychology of investing. The courses are held regularly in Poland’s biggest cities in partnership with local higher schools and in Warsaw by the Exchange. Sixteen courses held in 2014 brought together more than 600 participants.

To raise the awareness of investors, WSE also offers projects dedicated to the improvement of practical investor skills. In May 2013, the Exchange launched GPWTr@der: a demo platform for investing in WIG20, mWIG40, and currency futures. In March 2014, a stock investment module was added to the platform. The tool was designed for beginners who wish to learn more about the equity and derivatives markets and discover the practical mechanisms of investing in financial instruments available on WSE. The GPWTr@der platform had ca. 21.7 thousand virtual accounts at the end of 2014. The platform is used for education by brokerage houses and higher schools across Poland.

Furthermore, since 2010, the Exchange is a partner of the “Civic Shareholding” educational programme initiated by the Ministry of the State Treasury and addressed to individuals interested in investing on the exchange. A new series of education workshops in towns across Poland and several education projects were completed within the framework of the programme in 2014.

The Polish Power Exchange is also engaged in educational activities addressed to market participants. PolPX organises regular training sessions and workshops to develop and promote transparent trade in fuels and to raise awareness about the benefits of exchange trading. In 2014, PolPX initiated among others seven training sessions for brokers and several meetings with the Energy Trade Association held to discuss the key challenges and expectations of market participants. PolPX organised the annual Trading Forum as a platform for exchange of opinions and development of new solutions in co-operation with direct participants of the markets operated by PolPX.

PolPX co-operates with higher schools to organise workshops among others devoted to the role of energy exchanges and commodity markets. In partnership with the Lesław A. Paga Foundation, PolPX organises the Energy Academy project to build a broad coalition of capital market institutions for energy security and sustainable development of energy markets in Poland.