Raiffeisen Bank, 100K RON fine for illegal interest rate manipulation

The National Authority for Consumer Protection (ANPC) has issued a fine to Raiffeisen Bank worth 100,000 RON (rd 20,280 euro) for incorrect commercial practices and decided to suspend the bank's activity regarding this behaviour, the first time such a measure was applied n Romania, as well as ordered it to return the illegally cashed commissions from customers, the ANPC informs. The 100,000 fine was issued to Raiffeisen Bank after the bank ignored a binding legal decision, which stated, in February 2020, that Raiffeisen committed incorrect business practices when unilaterally increasing the interest rates of clients which requested credit restructuring. According to ANPC representatives, approximately 14,000 credit clients were affected by the incorrect business practice of Raiffeisen Bank. ANPC mentions that Raiffeisen Bank did not apply the decision of the court for nearly 1 year and 7 months after it was issued. The National Authority for Consumer Protection emphasizes that the sums incorrectly held by Raiffeisen Bank were not yet returned to the damaged customers. According to the quoted source, the incorrectly retained sums could exceed 10 million euro.AGERPRES(RO - author: George Coman, editor: Marian Nica; EN - author: Razvan-Adrian Pandea, editor: Maria Voican)