Three banks under scrutiny over FX rate setting rules

Poland's antitrust watchdog UOKiK has launched inquiry, regarding banks BZ WBK, Millennium and BGZ BNP Paribas FX rates setting rules, which UOKiK called “unclear.” “The provisions in question are both imprecise and discretionary in nature; for example, the currency exchange rate would be determined on the basis of the 'average currency exchange rate on the interbank market', however, there is currently no legal definition of the interbank market. Furthermore, customers who wished to check the exchange rates would face serious difficulties as the provisions of the contracts would either refer to the Reuters website, without stating the exact address thereof, or to other sites which are only accessible to banks and require an access fee to be paid by the user,” Marek Niechciał, UOKiK President said. If the UOKiK's proceedings find the aforementioned clauses abusive, the office can fine them up to 10 percent of the bank's annual turnover.