The European Union’s top court will rule next month in a much-anticipated case over Swiss-franc mortgages that threatens to increase legacy lending costs for Polish banks, according to Bloomberg.
The decision on whether the banks can pass on extra fees to customers whose foreign-currency loans were deemed unfair will be announced on June 15, Arkadiusz Szczesniak, the head of the Stop Banking Lawlessness lobby told Bloomberg, citing a letter his legal team received from the court on Friday.
The EU Court of Justice has yet to announce the date of the ruling on its website. The lobby represents some of the clients, who have sued their banks over foreign-currency lending practices.
In a non-binding opinion in the case, announced in February, an adviser to the court sided with the borrowers, saying banks can’t claim payments beyond reimbursements of the loan principal in cases where contested mortgage deals were voided by courts.
If the final ruling follows the same approach, it could lead to additional costs for the industry, whose earnings have suffered from mounting lawsuits. An aide to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said last month Poland should consider a blanket conversion of all Swiss-franc mortgages into zloty as part of its contingency plan for the long-running row.