The District Court in Warsaw Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit by a group of borrowers against Bank Millennium to determine the bank’s liability for unjust enrichment in connection with mortgage loan agreements indexed to the Swiss franc, the bank said. In the class action, the members of the group did not seek payment of specific amounts.
The number of loan agreements covered by this procedure is over 3,200. The action was brought in 2014 by a group of borrowers represented by the Municipal Consumer Ombudsman in Olsztyn. According to the group members, Swiss franc indexed mortgage contracts included the so-called abusive clauses. Therefore, group members demanded recognition that their contracts should be treated as if the loan had been granted in PLN, without indexation to the Swiss franc, but at the same time had an interest rate of LIBOR, as for indexed loans, the bank said.
The verdict was delivered in closed session, without the participation of the public. The judgment is not final and the parties may appeal against it.
The decision is consistent with the position of the bank, which from the beginning of the trial indicated that the claims of this group of frankers were unjustified. Regardless of this, meeting the expectations of frankers, the bank offered and continues to offer borrowers in Swiss francs, including those remaining in court disputes with the bank (individual and The possibility of concluding an early repayment or currency conversion agreement on a loan indexed to the Swiss franc under negotiated conditions. A good illustration of these activities is the number of agreements concluded with borrowers covered by a class action, which currently amounts to 293, i.e. 9% of the total number of loan agreements mortgage covered by the lawsuit, the bank announced.
At the same time, the bank emphasizes that it remains open to its clients with the aim of reaching amicable agreements (including conversion to mortgage loans in PLN, prepayments, early full repayment, including “voluntary settlements”) agreed on negotiated terms with borrowers with foreign currency mortgage loans .
As a result of these negotiations and other natural factors, the number of active foreign currency mortgage loans decreased from the beginning of this year to the end of March 2022 by almost 2,700 (throughout 2021: almost 10,300 contracts, 2020: almost 3,600 contracts) in compared to over 47,600 active loan agreements at the end of 2021. As in recent quarters, the decline in the number of active foreign currency mortgage contracts was greater than the inflow of new individual lawsuits against the bank, the bank indicated.
Bank Millennium is a nationwide, universal bank that has been operating under this brand since 2003. In 1992, the shares of the bank (then BIG SA) as the first financial institution – made their debut on the WSE. The strategic shareholder of Bank Millennium is Banco Comercial Portugues (Millennium bcp) – the largest commercial bank in Portugal. The bank’s total assets amounted to PLN 103.91 billion at the end of 2021.
Source: Bank Millennium and ISBnews
