13.2. EVENTS THAT MAY IMPACT FX MORTGAGE LEAGAL RISK AND
RELATED PROVISION
On 29 January 2021 a set of questions addressed by the First President of the Supreme Court to the
full Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court was published. This may have important consequences in
terms of clarifications of relevant aspects of the court rulings and their consequences. The Civil
Chamber of the Supreme Court has been requested for answering the questions concerning key
matters related to FX mortgage agreements: (i) is it permissible to replace - with the law provisions
or with a custom - the abusive provisions of an agreement which refer to FX exchange rate
determination; moreover, (ii) in case of impossibility of determining the exchange rate of a foreign
currency in the indexed/denominated credit agreement - is it permissible to keep the agreement still
valid in its remaining scope; as well as (iii) if in case of invalidity of the CHF credit there would be
applicable the theory of balance (i.e. does arise a single claim which is equal to the difference
between value of claims of bank and the customer) or the theory of two condictions (separate claims
for the bank and for the client that should be dealt with separately). The Supreme Court has also
been requested for answering the question on (iv) from which point in time there shall be starting the
limitation period in case of bank's claim for repayment of amounts paid as a loan and (v) whether
banks and consumers may receive remuneration for using their pecuniary means by another party.
On 11 May 2021 the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court requested opinions on Swiss franc mortgage
loans from five institutions including the National Bank of Poland (NBP), the Polish Financial
Supervision Authority (UKNF), the Commissioner for Human Rights, the Children's Rights Ombudsman
and the Financial Ombudsman.
The positions of: the Commissioner for Human Rights, the Children's Rights Ombudsman and the
Financial Ombudsman are in general favorable to consumers, while the National Bank of Poland and
the Polish Financial Supervision Authority present a more balanced position, including fair principles
of treatment of FX mortgage borrowers vis-à-vis PLN mortgage borrowers, as well as balanced
economic aspects regarding solutions for the problem that could be considered by the Supreme Court.
In the next meeting of the Supreme Court that took place on 2 September 2021, the Court did not
address the answers to the submitted questions and no new meeting date is known.
On 12 August 2021, in the case for payment brought by a consumer against Bank Millennium S.A., the
CJEU was asked for a preliminary ruling (C-520/21) whether, in the event that a loan agreement
concluded by a bank and a consumer is deemed invalid from the beginning due to unfair contract
terms, the parties, in addition to the reimbursement of the money paid in contracts (bank - loan
capital, consumer - installments, fees, commissions and insurance premiums) and statutory interest
for delay from the moment of calling for payment, may also claim any other benefits, including
receivables in particular, remuneration, compensation, reimbursement of costs or valorization of the
performance. The hearing was held on October 12, 2022. The hearing was attended by representatives
of the Bank, the consumer's representative, representatives of the European Commission, the Polish
government, the Financial Ombudsman, the Commissioner for Human Rights, the Polish Financial
Supervision Authority and the prosecutor. In its position, the European Commission opposed granting
banks the right to an additional financial benefit for the consumer's use of the capital provided. At
the same time, the Commission concluded that granting consumers the right to an additional financial
benefit will not be contrary to the EU law. The representatives of the Polish government, the Financial
Ombudsman, the Commissioner for Human Rights and the prosecutor also objected to granting banks
the right to an additional benefit. The Chairman of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority pointed
out that the essence of the problem is not the abusiveness of contractual clauses, but the appreciation
of the Swiss franc (CHF) against the zloty (PLN). In the opinion of the Chairman of the Polish Financial
Supervision Authority, banks are entitled to economic compensation for allowing another entity to
use the capital.