Landmark CJEU ruling on WIBOR (C-471/24)

The Romanowski & Partners team, consisting of Prof. Michał Romanowski, Ph.D., Piotr Haiduk, and Aleksandra Cyniak, together with the CMS Poland law firm, represented by Anna Cudna-Wagner, Bartosz Miąskiewicz, and Monika Wojdyńska, represented PKO Bank Polski in a landmark case before the CJEU concerning WIBOR.

What did the Court rule?

• Courts may review interest rate clauses based on WIBOR.
• The main argument against WIBOR—namely, the obligation to inform consumers about the methodology for determining WIBOR—has been rejected. The CJEU explicitly stated that banks do not have such an obligation. Banks must fulfill the disclosure obligations arising from the law.
• Furthermore, even if banks failed to fulfill their disclosure obligations (which must be examined on a case-by-case basis), this does not automatically mean that the clause is unfair—an assessment of fairness requires, among other things, a comparison of the loan interest rate with market conditions and the statutory interest rate.

What does this mean for WIBOR cases? If the bank fulfilled its disclosure obligations, there are no grounds to question the validity of the contract. Only potential gaps in the documentation open the possibility of assessing whether the clause was fair. Here, in turn, comparing the contractual interest rate with market conditions for similar loans is of key importance.

Key conclusion: There is no “systemic flaw” in WIBOR agreements comparable to the CHF disputes.