• Once again, a court confirmed that consumers were mislead during the sales of insurance capital fund (ICF) unit-linked insurance policies.
• The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of Open Finance.
• The verdict related to the decision of the UOKiK of 2014.

In recent years, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection issued 23 decisions concerning insurance capital fund (ICF) unit-linked insurance policies. Six of them ended with imposing of fines on the entrepreneurs in the total amount of PLN 57 million. So far, judicial decisions were pronounced in 5 cases. The Office also signed agreements with 17 insurers. They lowered the termination fees for those customers who had not been covered by the UOKiK's earlier decisions.

The President of the UOKiK concluded through a decision made in October 2014 that Open Finance has violated collective consumer interests. The company emphasised the benefits of purchasing of insurance capital fund (ICF) unit-linked life and endowment insurance and passed over the circumstances, in which the investment may generate losses. It also did not inform about the costs associated with the termination of the contract during its term. For the use of unfair market practices, the UOKiK imposed on the entrepreneur a fine amounting to over PLN 1.6 million.

In September 2017, the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection dismissed the company's appeal and accepted the arguments of the UOKiK. The court pointed out that a consumer who asks an expert, in this case the seller, has the right to require reliable and clear information on offered product.

In October 2018, the Court of Appeal dismissed the company’s appeal. In the oral statement of grounds, the Court explained that consumers were assured by the employees of the entrepreneur about the possibility to withdraw funds without any additional fees. They were also not informed about the investment risks. In addition to consumer complaints, training materials for the company's representatives were the key evidence in this case. The Court found that the UOKiK had correctly determined the amount of the fine imposed on the company.

Earlier, in other cases concerning ICFs, courts pronounced judicial decisions after the appeals of Aegon Polska, Idea Bank, Getin Noble Bank and Raiffeisen Bank.

In December 2015, the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection dismissed the appeal of Aegon Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeń na Życie. According to the UOKiK, the entrepreneur mislead its customers when informing them about the change of the method of calculation of the termination fee. Aegon unilaterally and without prior notice imposed amendments to the contracts with its customers based on an internal resolution of its management board. The UOKiK ordered the company to discontinue the unfair practice and imposed on it a fine in the amount of nearly PLN 23.5 million. In June 2017,
a settlement was reached in the case, and the Court of Appeal dismissed further proceedings. The fine was paid in the amount imposed by the decision of the President of the UOKiK.

Another judicial decision was pronounced in 2017 in relation to the appeal of Idea Bank against the decision of October 2014. The UOKiK found that the company misled consumers by the method, in which it presented the possibility to join group ICF unit-linked life and endowment insurance. The bank did not inform about the risk of loses associated with the investment, or about the fees for contract termination during its term. The Office imposed on the company a fine in the amount of over PLN 4 million. The Court of Competition and Consumer Protection found that the behaviour of the personnel of Idea Bank misled consumers. In connection with the discontinuation of the questioned practice by the company, the SOKiK changed the decision of the Office, and reduced the amount of the fine to PLN 1.5 million. Both parties appealed against the verdict.

On 23 January 2018, the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection pronounced
a judicial decision dismissing the appeal of Getin Noble Bank against the decision of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection. In 2013, the President of the UOKiK found that the bank advisers misled customers when offering ICF unit-linked life insurance policies. They emphasised the information on benefits over the information on potential risk. According to the verdict of the Court of Appeal, the bank must pay to the State Budget a fine in the amount of PLN 5 million. The decision is final and it constitutes
a precedent for similar cases. It means that consumers may rely on this decision when pursuing similar claims in other courts (see the ruling of the Supreme Court dated 23 April 2015, III SK 61/14). The bank paid the fine in February 2018.

In May 2018, the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection dismissed the appeal of Raiffeisen Bank against the decision of the UOKiK of October 2014. The bank did not inform that offered Kumulatus Savings Program was actually a unit-linked insurance contract. While offering the product, the bank concealed that customers would lose their funds if they withdraw from the contract within the first two years. Additionally, it failed to complete the formalities arising from the regulations concerning conclusion of distance contracts. It also did not accept the withdrawals submitted by consumers within the
30-day period prescribed by law. The President of the UOKiK imposed on the company
a fine in the amount of over PLN 21 million. The Court of Competition and Consumer Protection changed the decision of the UOKiK, and reduced the fine to over PLN 5 million. The Office appealed against the verdict.

In September 2018, the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection dismissed the appeal of Tax Care. The trial concerned the decision of December 2015. The President of the UOKiK found that the entrepreneur has violated collective consumer interests through the provision of incomplete information on its ICF unit-linked insurance products in
a potentially misleading manner. The customers of the company might have been unaware of the risk and the fees associate with the investment. The Office imposed on Tax Care
a fine in the amount of over PLN 770 thousand. In the reasons for the judgement, the SOKiK found that consumers were misled by the company’s agents. The Court referred to numerous complaints on the entrepreneur’s conduct which confirmed that consumers would not conclude contracts if they had full knowledge of the product. SOKiK also pointed out that the fine is proportional to the scale of the violation. The decision is final, and the company paid the fine this November.

Judicial decisions database

Since November 2015, a judicial decisions database has been available on the UOKiK website. It contains information on all decisions concerning competition-restricting practices, control of concentration, infringement of the collective interests of consumers and cases concerning recognition of prohibited clauses (in which the President of the UOKiK was the claimant). The database is available under the “Decisions” tab on the UOKiK website: http://decyzje.uokik.gov.pl/bp/wyroki.nsf. The details on the rules for posting the judicial decisions can be found in the following document: The rules of provision of information on the judicial review of decisions of the President of the UOKiK.

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw
Phone: +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 345
Email: biuroprasowe@uokik.gov.pl
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