Informacja w sprawie nałożenia prawomocnej sankcji administracyjnej na Raiffeisen Bank Polska Spółka Akcyjna z siedzibą w Warszawie (obecnie Raiffeisen Bank International Aktiengesellschaft w Wiedniu)

On April 28, 2023, the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) published a press release to inform that the Supreme Administrative Court upheld the KNF’s decision over a penalty on Raiffeisen Bank Polska SA (currently Raiffeisen Bank International Aktiengesellschaft in Vienna) that was imposed in 2018.
Specifically, back then, the KNF fined the bank PLN 50,000,000 for violating §7 of the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of June 21, 2005 on the mode of liquidation of investment funds which requires liquidators of investment funds to immediately – after the receipt of adequate information (e.g. registration documents, documentation of the accounting books, etc.) – prepare and disclose financial statements so that investors are adequately informed of a fund’s situation.
Raiffeisen Bank Polska SA failed to do so for at least the following four funds – as quoted:
– Agricultural Investments Closed-end Non-Public Assets Investment Fund in liquidation
– Selective Investments Closed-End Investment Fund of Non-Public Assets in liquidation
– Lasy Polskie Closed-end Non-Public Assets Investment Fund in liquidation
– Vivante Closed-End Investment Fund of Non-public Assets in liquidation
and was subsequently fined the above noted amount. As a consequence, the Bank filed an appeal with the Provincial Administrative Court which upheld the KNF’s decision. A subsequent appeal was filed by the Bank with the Supreme Administrative Court which rejected the appeal, making the decision final.
In its reasoning the Supreme Administrative Court noted that the preparation of financial statements at the beginning of a fund’s liquidation is indispensable as a failure to do so „means that fund participants are unable to obtain a full picture of the funds‘ financial situation, e.g. they are unable to estimate whether and to what extent they incurred damage/loss.“