The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection has questioned the practices of several more banks regarding handling unauthorised transactions.
The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) announced that it had initiated proceedings against six additional banks regarding their method of settling accounts with consumers and their response to complaints in the case of unauthorized transactions. In total, 15 banks operating in our country are already covered by such proceedings.
The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection explained that this concerns reports by consumers of unauthorized transactions, which occur, for example, in the case of cyberattacks. According to the applicable regulations, in the event of a customer losing money as a result of an unauthorized transaction, banks are obliged to return the amount of the unauthorized transaction or restore the account to the state before such a transaction occurred. The money should be returned by the end of the next business day after the report, unless the consumer reported it later than 13 months after the transaction or there is a reasonable suspicion of fraud on the part of the consumer, of which the bank has notified the police or prosecutor’s office.
Banks do not always fulfill their obligation to return money to injured consumers. They refuse or return it after the deadline. Another problem is misleading information provided in response to submitted complaints. We have made further accusations against banks that do not settle accounts with consumers in the event of reporting an unauthorized transaction and are misleading. Our actions already concern a total of 15 banks. I would like to remind you that for violating the collective interests of consumers we can impose a fine of up to 10 percent of turnover on the entrepreneur
– said Tomasz Chróstny, president of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.
The President added that the bank must not only demonstrate the correctness of authentication when executing the transaction, but must also provide such security measures that will limit the activities of fraudsters. The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection expressed hope that as a result of the proceedings conducted, the banking sector in Poland will adjust its activities to the law that has been in force for years and this will be to the benefit of consumers.