Sylwester Kozak got his PhD habilitation degree in Finance at the Cracow University of Economics based on the dissertation “Competition in the banking and insurance sectors”, and his PhD in Economics based on the dissertation “Consolidation processes in the US banking system in 1991-2000 and its economic effects”. In 1996, during the one-year scholarship from Georgetown University, he studied finance and banking. Currently he is an associate professor at the Institute of Economics and Finance of the WULS-SGGW. Additionally, he works for the Financial Stability Department of the National Bank of Poland. He is the author of articles in the area of economics and banking, focused on the issues of consolidation, efficiency and competition in financial sectors (banking, insurance, investment funds), financial sector integration within EU market and regional economic development, published in domestic and international journals and presented on at scientific conferences.