Experiences related to the global financial crisis of 2008 and to subsequent turbulence in the financial market, and also to threats connected with the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrate the evolution of the aims of the functioning of central banks. The goal of monetary stability, which means attempting to ensure low inflation, has proved insufficient. As a part of building a new architecture of financial regulation and supervision (at international, European, and national level), the mandate of central banks has been strengthened and supplemented with activities aimed at ensuring the stability of the financial system, understood as a state of affairs in which systemic risk does not accumulate. The aim of this article is to analyze the systemic role of the NBP (Polish Central Bank) from the point of view of the contemporary evolution of the role of central banks within the financial safety net.