Financialisation As A Result Of The Network Economy’S Development

In the last thirty years, the world’s economies have changed signifi cantly. New technology developments have enabled the transition from the industrial economy to the network economy. The network economy is based on information technology, connectivity and human knowledge. Its development has caused changes in the way of life, consumer behaviour on the markets and companies’ business models, especially the process of goods and services creation and distribution. Electronic commerce and services have become one of the fastest developing fi elds of the economy. As a result, the role of government has diminished while the role of markets has increased economic transactions between countries and their citizens have substantially risen, and fi nancial transac- ? ons have grown remarkably. This changing landscape has been characterised by globalization and fi nancialisation. The increasing role of fi nancial motives, fi nancial markets, and fi nancial institutions have infl uenced domestic and international transactions. A new category of fi nance called e-fi nance has been created and implemented. Despite the advantages of electronic fi nance networks, concurrently there are some disadvantages of their diff usion. The purpose of the paper is to present both aspects of fi nancialisation and its infl uence on the fi nancial and banking system. This purpose determines the structure of the paper. As fi nancialisation is a relatovely new term the fi rst section of the paper focuses on defi ning its phenomenon. This part presents diff erent authors’ perspectives and defi nitions. Next, the infl uence of fi nancialisation on the Polish fi nancial system’s quantitative and qualitative structure is discussed. The last section focuses on the current role and functions of banks in the fi nance system network structure as a result of a rapidly changing technological environment.