Banking law
Banking law claims
We handle disputes with financial institutions - currency-linked loans, old-portfolio loans, unauthorised transactions and AML matters. We represent clients across Poland.
Disputes with banks and financial institutions
Our firm's practice concentrates in particular on banking law. Every day we support our clients in pursuing claims against financial market institutions. Our experience shows that these institutions - holding a contractual advantage over the consumer in experience, knowledge and financial resources - often draft standard-form agreements in a way that is unfair and non-transparent for the consumer.
Such agreements frequently contain clauses that let the institution freely shape part of the contractual relationship while it is being performed: the balance, the instalment, the interest rate, the exchange rate tables or the schedules of fees and commissions. These provisions are unfair under both Polish law and EU directives 93/13/EEC and 2008/48, and they allow the consumer to challenge a defective agreement in court.
A separate and very frequent area is the free credit sanction, to which we have devoted its own page under Services.
Cases we handle
Indexed and denominated loans
Disputes over loans linked to a foreign currency - CHF, EUR, USD.
Free credit sanction
Consumer loans concluded after 18 December 2011 - repayment with no interest or costs.
Old-portfolio loans
PLN agreements with a variable interest clause based on vague criteria.
Unauthorised transactions
Recovering funds lost through operations the account holder never consented to.
AML matters
Claims under the anti-money-laundering act, including blocked funds on an account.
Consumer rights in contracts
Abusive clauses in the standard forms used by financial market institutions.
How we work together
Free consultation
We discuss the matter and review the documents you provide.
Assessment and terms
We set out the prospects and the terms of cooperation, including instalments.
Claim and representation
We prepare the claim or letter and represent you in the matter.
Running the case
We run the case through to resolution, keeping you informed of progress.
Example cases
Four mechanisms our claims most often rest on
Below we explain what the cases we handle most frequently involve. Every agreement is assessed individually, however - the outcome turns on the specific wording and on the circumstances in which the agreement was concluded.
Free credit sanction
Consumer loans concluded after 18 December 2011 are examined for the conditions triggering the free credit sanction. Where the bank shaped the agreement contrary to the rules set out in the Consumer Credit Act - expressed in particular in Article 30(1) - the borrower, after filing the appropriate declaration with the bank, repays the loan with no interest and no other costs within the period stated in the loan agreement.
Any overpayment arising for the period from the date the loan agreement was concluded to the date the declaration was filed is refundable by the bank to the consumer as a payment to which the bank was not entitled.
It matters, however, that the sanction does not arise automatically: it requires a formal declaration specifying the individual defects of the agreement and invoking the sanction. A wrongly drafted declaration, or formal and substantive gaps in it, can destroy any chance of effectively pursuing the consumer's claims in court.
AML - blocked funds
Claims concerning the anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist financing act can take various forms and often coincide with criminal proceedings already under way. The act has its own distinctive framework, including the office of the General Inspector of Financial Information.
In practice the main source of claims under the act is the obliged institution's application of so-called financial security measures. Where those measures cannot be applied, the obliged institution must apply the rules in Article 41 of the act. That may involve blocking the funds in a bank account.
Old-portfolio loans
These loans were often characterised by a variable interest clause based on vague circumstances referring to changes on the financial markets. In reality this gave the bank the power to set the interest rate freely and unilaterally, by selectively choosing which criteria to invoke.
Unauthorised transactions
An unauthorised transaction is a concept set out in the Polish Payment Services Act, which implements the EU PSD2 directive. By definition, an unauthorised transaction is one the account holder did not consent to. This happens where, for example, third parties break through the bank's security, gain access to the holder's account and then transfer the funds to another account through electronic banking.
In such a situation the account holder may demand that the bank restore the balance directly, without having to track down the perpetrators. Importantly, the burden of proving that the transaction was authorised rests on the bank - it is the bank that must establish every condition in order to escape liability towards the account holder.
From practice
What an unfair banking clause looks like
Below is an example of a variable interest provision from an old-portfolio loan agreement. The reference to vague market parameters let the bank set the interest rate essentially at will.
The interest rate on the Loan may change where the reference rate set for the given currency changes, and where the financial parameters of the money and capital market change in the country (or the countries of the European Union) whose currency is the basis of indexation.
An example clause from a loan agreement. Assessing any particular provision always requires a review of the agreement as a whole.
Scope of currency cases
Banks whose agreements we work on
We handle cases concerning loan agreements concluded with the following banks, among others. Current legal successors are given in brackets.
- PKO BP S.A.
- Pekao S.A.
- Kredyt Bank S.A. (now Santander Bank Polska S.A.)
- Raiffeisen Bank S.A. (now Raiffeisen Bank International AG)
- Millennium Bank S.A.
- mBank S.A.
- Deutsche Bank S.A.
- Lukas Bank S.A. (now Credit Agricole S.A.)
- Dominet Bank S.A. (now BNP Paribas S.A.)
- Fortis Bank S.A. (now BNP Paribas S.A.)
- GE Money Bank (now Bank BPH S.A.)
- Bank BPH S.A. (now Pekao S.A.)
- BOŚ Bank S.A.
The list is indicative and not exhaustive - we also review agreements concluded with other banks, credit unions and lending companies.
Do you have a dispute with a bank?
The first consultation is free. We will review the documents and point out possible directions.