An online financial services company whose payment services business was suspended by the Polish financial authority (KNF) last week has responded by preparing lawsuits for hundreds of thousands of euros against two Polish banks.
Conotoxia Ltd, a subsidiary of Polish online foreign currency exchange Cinkciarz.pl, had its licence for payment services suspended by the KNF after complaints by customers of tardy payments.
While online service conditions oblige the payment service company to transfer funds to customers within eight hours of them making a payment order, many members of the public were waiting up to three days to receive payments from Conotoxia.
Cinkciarz.pl was not answering customer inquiries. A statement online apologized for what it said were computer problems which would continue to slow down payments until October 26.
The KNF responded to a flood of complaints it received from the public by suspending Conotoxia’s payment services on the grounds that the company “was not guaranteeing careful and stable management of its payment service business.”
On Friday, Cinkciarz.pl said that it would be continuing to offer its other services, including its original core business of online currency exchange.
On Monday, the company replied to questions raised by TVP World with three written statements about legal cases being prepared against Polish banks.
The banks that Conotoxia and Cinkciarz say they are preparing lawsuits against are mBank, part of the German-owned Commerzbank group, which will face two suits for a total of 1.5 billion zlotys (€350,0000), and BPS, a Polish co-operative bank being sued for €500,000 zlotys.
“BPS Bank's actions,” the Cinkciarz.pl and Conotoxia statments read, “constitute a deliberate and systematic obstruction of market access directed against the Company and its customers.” BPS did not answer our request for a statement.
Conotoxia accuses mBank of blocking its accounts and refusing a credit line.
By allegedly blocking access to bank accounts, mBank “not only prevented Conotoxia from accessing its own funds but also prevented its customers from accessing their own funds,” according to one of the press releases sent to TVP World.
In a written statement to TVP World, mBank gave no comment on the matter. “All relations between financial institutions are the competence of the KNF,” it said.
While online service conditions oblige the payment service company to transfer funds to customers within eight hours of them making a payment order, many members of the public were waiting up to three days to receive payments from Conotoxia.
Cinkciarz.pl was not answering customer inquiries. A statement online apologized for what it said were computer problems which would continue to slow down payments until October 26.
The KNF responded to a flood of complaints it received from the public by suspending Conotoxia’s payment services on the grounds that the company “was not guaranteeing careful and stable management of its payment service business.”
On Friday, Cinkciarz.pl said that it would be continuing to offer its other services, including its original core business of online currency exchange.
On Monday, the company replied to questions raised by TVP World with three written statements about legal cases being prepared against Polish banks.
The banks that Conotoxia and Cinkciarz say they are preparing lawsuits against are mBank, part of the German-owned Commerzbank group, which will face two suits for a total of 1.5 billion zlotys (€350,0000), and BPS, a Polish co-operative bank being sued for €500,000 zlotys.
“BPS Bank's actions,” the Cinkciarz.pl and Conotoxia statments read, “constitute a deliberate and systematic obstruction of market access directed against the Company and its customers.” BPS did not answer our request for a statement.
Conotoxia accuses mBank of blocking its accounts and refusing a credit line.
By allegedly blocking access to bank accounts, mBank “not only prevented Conotoxia from accessing its own funds but also prevented its customers from accessing their own funds,” according to one of the press releases sent to TVP World.
In a written statement to TVP World, mBank gave no comment on the matter. “All relations between financial institutions are the competence of the KNF,” it said.
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