UOKiK announced the decision in a statement on Monday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The watchdog said: “Unacceptable, abusive clauses and unilateral changes to agreements with customers - this, in a nutshell, is the practice for which Deutsche Bank Polska S.A. has been fined over PLN 5.7 million (EUR 1.2 million) by the Chairman of UOKiK.”
According to the agency, Deutsche Bank Polska misled its customers by "disseminating false information" about changes in fees for the issuing of certificates related to mortgages denominated in foreign currencies, including in Swiss francs (CHF).
The bank is entitled to appeal against the fine to Poland’s Court for the Protection of Competition and Consumers, the PAP news agency reported.
Later on Monday, it confirmed it would lodge an appeal, according to news outlets.
If the UOKiK’s decision comes into force, Deutsche Bank Polska will have to pay the PLN 5.7 million fine, as well as notifying its customers that they can receive compensation for the costs of obtaining bank certificates related to FX-denominated mortgages, according to the watchdog’s statement.
Mortgage certificates
The UOKiK said that the certificates in question, which relate to the history of mortgage payments or the accrued interest, are necessary for customers who intend to sue the bank in order to have the mortgage agreement cancelled or to recover unreasonably calculated mortgage payments, officials told reporters.
The watchdog added that after it launched an administrative procedure regarding the clauses about fees for mortgage certificates--which eventually found the clauses to be abusive, and therefore non-binding, in August 2020--Deutsche Bank Polska “instead of cancelling the clauses, in September 2019 notified its customers that it has unilaterally changed them.”
After the changes, the new fees "could be as high as" PLN 1,845 (EUR 392), according to officials.
It is “precisely this practice for which the bank has been fined and it must notify its customers that they are entitled to compensation,” the UOKiK said.
'Deutsche Bank Polska provided customers with false information': watchdog chief
Meanwhile, the watchdog’s chairman, Tomasz Chróstny, said on Monday: “Customers may not have been aware that the bank is not allowed to unilaterally change clauses which are in themselves abusive in nature. And so they may not have realised, either, that the illegal clause and a subsequent change to this clause are not binding for them.”
Chróstny added: “Deutsche Bank Polska provided customers with false information which influenced their decisions about the payment of fees for the issuing of mortgage certificates by the bank. These fees were imposed by the bank in an unwarranted way.”
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, prawo.pl, uokik.gov.pl
