Bank Millennium is open to concluding settlements with franc customers and has set a target of 1,000 settlements per quarter, the bank’s vice-president Fernando Bicho announced.
“When we initiated the [settlement] process we explained that we wanted to have 2,000 settlements per quarter and we have achieved that. […]. Then we said we wanted to be more realistic about it, because the number of agreements would also decrease, so we adopted a target of 1,000 settlements per quarter. We didn’t achieve that for a while, but now we are achieving it,” Bicho said during a conference call.
“Over time we will achieve more out-of-court settlements. We are proactive, we try to reach a settlement with every client, whether in court or out of court,” He added.
The number of voluntary settlements on foreign currency mortgages in Q2 2024 was 1,007 (H1 2024 total 2,111), slightly below the Q1 result.
The Bank is open to individually negotiating favourable terms for early repayment or conversion of loans into PLN. As a result of these negotiations, the number of active foreign currency mortgage loans granted by Bank Millennium decreased by 23,537: in 2020 by 1,362, in 2021 by 8,450, in 2022 by 7,943, in 2023 by 3,671 and in the first half of 2024 by 2,111. At the end of the first half of 2024, the bank had 28,759 active foreign currency mortgage loans. The costs incurred in connection with these negotiations amounted to PLN 1 689.3 million: PLN 44.4 million in 2020, PLN 364.6 million in 2021, PLN 515.2 million in 2022, PLN 415.7 million in 2023 and PLN 349.4 million in the first half of 2024, according to the report.
As at 30 June 2024, the bank had 22,141 loan agreements and an additional 2,070 loan agreements from the former Euro Bank currently the subject of individual litigation (excluding claims brought by the bank against customers, so-called collection cases), relating to indexation clauses in foreign currency mortgage loans (57% of loan agreements before the court of first instance and 43% of loan agreements before the court of second instance) with a total value of claims brought by plaintiffs of PLN 4,528.0 million and CHF 320.1 million (Bank Millennium portfolio: PLN 4,107.6 million and CHF 310.0 million and the former Euro Bank portfolio: PLN 420.4 million and CHF 10.1 million). Of the 22,141 loan agreements in individual ongoing cases, 341 are also the subject of class action litigation, it was also reported.
Of the total number of individual proceedings against the bank, around 2,930, or 13%, were brought by borrowers who had already naturally or early repaid the loan in full or had the loan converted to PLN at the time of the lawsuit and did not have a settlement. A further approximately 830 cases relate to loans that have been fully repaid during the course of the proceedings (litigation is lengthy), according to the report.
Source: Bank Millennium and ISBnews
