In brief

• The President of UOKiK (Office of Competition and Consumer Protection) has obliged ING Bank Śląski, Bank Ochrony Środowiska, Nest Bank and Plus Bank to change the rules for handling complaints about unauthorized transactions.
• The banks are to re-examine previously rejected reports.
• In justified cases, customers will recover the lost funds.

Banks must change their rules and review rejected reports

The decision of the President of UOKiK shows that the obligation to restructure the way complaints concerning payments made without the customer's consent are assessed rests with ING Bank Śląski, Bank Ochrony Środowiska, Nest Bank and Plus Bank (UOKiK zobowiązał cztery banki do zmiany praktyk. Klienci mogą odzyskać pieniądze – Puls Biznesu) (Kolejne banki zweryfikują odrzucone reklamacje. Decyzje Prezesa UOKiK – UOKiK). The institutions are also to re-examine reports that were previously rejected (Przełom dla okradzionych klientów. UOKiK zmusza banki do oddania pieniędzy – Bankier.pl).

Return of money in justified cases

If the repeated verification confirms the validity of the complaint, the bank will return the lost funds to the customer.

What the decision means

UOKiK indicated that the banks must improve their procedures before the customer is asked for additional evidence. The change covers both the way reports are assessed and the way results are communicated. Detailed implementation deadlines do not follow from the available communications.

What customers can do

Persons whose complaints about unauthorized transactions were rejected by one of the four banks may ask their bank to reconsider the report. If the matter is not resolved, there remains the option of filing a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman (Rzecznik Finansowy) or UOKiK.