The Polish Financial Supervision Authority imposed two fines totaling 10 million Polish zlotys on Alior Bank SA over irregularities regarding the sale of investment certificates offered by local asset manager W Investments.
The FSA that the lender had provided investment advice and offered the certificates without concluding written agreements with customers, and had acted without taking into account the best interests of the clients.
The fines are significantly below the maximum penalties that can be imposed for this type of violations under Polish law, as the FSA took into account steps initiated by the lender to offer remedy to the clients.
More than 2,000 retail investors purchased certificates offered by W Investments, losing about 500 million Polish zlotys, Puls Biznesu reported in March, adding that Alior was the largest distributor of the certificates.
As of Aug. 6, US$1 was equivalent to 3.86 Polish zlotys.