By offering credit in Swiss francs, Getin Noble Bank and Credit Agricole Bank Polska may have violated contracts they had signed with consumers. The banks have voluntarily commited to change the practices UOKiK has called into question.

In early 2015 Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) launched preliminary proceedings to study the practices of banks offering mortgages in Swiss francs.

UOKiK was spurred to action when the franc strengthened against Poland’s currency, the zloty, causing CHF-based mortgage loan rates to also rise. At the same time, the LIBOR index value, used to adjust interest rates on adjustable rate mortgages, fell below zero. This should have brought loan installments down. In some cases, a negative LIBOR has caused credit interest rates to fall below zero. However, it was brought to UOKiK’s attention that not all banks were factoring in the negative interest rate. Yet loan agreements stated that the interest rate would be the sum of the base rate LIBOR and the loan’s margin.

UOKiK launched proceedings against Getin Noble Bank in August 2015 and against Credit Agricole Bank Poland in November. As a result of the Authority’s moves, both banks voluntarily commited to put an end to the practices in question and compensate clients for their effects.

They will now take into account the negative LIBOR rate in their calculation of interest on loans when its absolute value exceeds the value of the margin. This means that the negative interest due to borrowers will reduce the current installment on credit or loans. The banks have also committed to gradually reimburse customers the amounts billed and collected in the period when they did not factor in the negative LIBOR. They are also to inform clients of the changes and the public of UOKiK’s decision on their websites. Neither of the decisions are final and can be appealed in Poland’s Court of Competition and Consumer Protection.

The Getin Noble and Credit Agricole proceedings have not been the only Swiss franc-based cases UOKiK has taken up. It issued its first decision in January 2015 and has another four proceedings ongoing.

Additional information for the media:

Press Office, UOKiK
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw
Phone.: +48 22 827 28 92, +48 22 55 60 314, +48 22 55 60 430
E-mail: [SCODE]Yml1cm9wcmFzb3dlQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]

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