Four Polish banks have been fined a total of zł.4.4 million by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) for including unlawful clauses in the contracts and in the information they provided to clients.

Bank Gospodarki Żywnościowej, Getin Noble Bank, Alior Bank and Bank Ochrony Środowiska were all fined for various legal infringements, according to Gazeta Wyborcza.

By far the most heavily penalized was Bank Gospodarki Żywnościowej. It had made provisions in its agreements which said its statute could change at any time, but the bank failed to stipulate the circumstances in which changes could occur. The bank was fined nearly zł.3 million.

Getin Noble Bank was fined zł.755,000 for false advertising. It had promised a free internet banking account as a bonus to those who held accounts with eight percent interest. According to UOKiK, the internet account wasn't free and the interest was only seven percent for customers with less than zł.1,000 of savings in the account.

UOKiK found Alior Bank in breach of laws concerning the provision of information regarding fees and conditions for various bank accounts. It received a zł.530,000 fine for this.

Bank Ochrony Środowiska was fined zł.129,000 for considering mail to clients as being “received” as soon as it was registered as “sent” by post.