Frankfurt The financial regulator Bafin is increasing the pressure on the financial institutions in the debate about the repayment of bank fees. The authority called on the financial institutions on Tuesday in a supervisory announcement to “reimburse wrongly collected fees”.
The Bafin refers to a judgment of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), to which individual financial institutions have reacted differently so far. The Karlsruhe judges decided in April that banks must obtain the consent of their customers in the event of changes to general terms and conditions.
The previous clauses, according to which institutions can assume tacit approval if customers do not object to a change within two months, are no longer valid.
“The judgment of the BGH has an impact on almost every bank customer relationship,” said Bafin President Mark Branson. “That makes fast, unbureaucratic, transparent implementation all the more important. Our expectations in this regard are clear. ”Bafin stands for fair treatment of customers in the financial sector.
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Specifically, the Bafin requires banks to provide “clear and understandable information” to customers about the consequences of the BGH ruling. The customers would also have to get all information about changes to the contract in order to be able to quantify how high their reimbursement claim is.
The banks then have to reimburse the wrongly charged fees and set up appropriate provisions for this. In addition, the financial institutions should name a contact person for customer questions on the subject.
In addition, the financial institutions would have to agree on new contractual bases with their customers and stop the collection of “illegal fees”, demanded the Bafin.
BGH ruling is likely to be expensive for banks
The supervisory notification is a new instrument from Bafin with which it communicates market expectations to the industry and which it is now using for the first time following the BGH ruling. If the banks fail to comply with Bafin’s demands, the financial supervisory authority could take tougher supervisory measures at a later date.
The responsible Bafin Executive Director Thorsten Pötzsch had already announced in mid-June that the authority would pay close attention to whether and how the banks implement the BGH decision. In this context, the Bafin is also examining the issue of a general order, which would constitute a legally binding order. “Regardless of this, I can only advise customers to make any claims they may have with their bank,” said Pötzsch.
The BGH ruling triggered shock waves in the financial sector. Banks not only have to pay back fees, they also have to develop new procedures in order to obtain the active consent of their customers for future price adjustments. “This is likely to be associated with a not inconsiderable administrative effort,” wrote the Ministry of Finance in July in an answer to a small request from the FDP parliamentary group.
The Bafin assumes that the BGH ruling will, in part, have a heavy impact on the banks’ results. “In individual cases, it can go to half of the annual surplus,” said Executive Director Raimund Röseler in an interview with Handelsblatt at the end of July. “The span is very, very large.”
Deutsche Bank expects charges of around 300 million euros due to the ruling. Commerzbank had set up a provision of 66 million euros in the second quarter due to possible fee reclaims.
More: Interview with Bafin boss Mark Branson: “The greatest economic risk is the interest rate environment”