Cinkciarz.pl: banks deliberately withheld more than 1.4 billion PLN - notifications to the UOKiK, KNF, prosecutor's office and EU authorities

Since the beginning of Cinkciarz.pl's operations (2010), a company belonging to Conotoxia Holding, some banks have systematically and deliberately blocked the company's funds, holding more than 1.4 billion PLN in various currencies, such as euros, dollars and British pounds. Such actions had a direct negative impact on the company's operations, disrupting the provision of services and harming the quality of customer service. The banks' refusals and delays in carrying out transactions hit Cinkciarz.pl's liquidity and undermined the principles of fair competition on the Polish financial market.

Over the years, the fact that banks have been blocking our funds and delaying almost 3,000 transfers between Cinkciarz.pl accounts in various banks operating in the territory of Poland - an average of 2-3 transactions per week - has severely disrupted the currency exchange business and the execution of transactions. In one of the most recent cases, a foreign currency transfer between Cinkciarz.pl's accounts, initiated on 10.10.2024, was not completed until 5 days later, i.e. on 15.10.2024. Moreover, banks charged fees for "same day" transfers that were not completed on time, thus deliberately hindering the company's liquidity and generating additional costs. The refusal of the banks to provide us with working capital and investment capital only confirms that their actions were aimed at the stability of our company and destroying competition.

We observed delayed transactions at 24 banks. Of all banks, mBank had the largest share of delayed transactions, accounting for more than 37 percent of the number of transactions and more than 25 percent of the volume of delayed transactions (more than 1,100 transactions amounting to more than 389 million PLN).

In response to these unlawful actions, Cinkciarz.pl is filing notices with the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) and the Financial Supervisory Commission (KNF), demanding the initiation of urgent administrative proceedings and the revocation of the licenses of the banks involved in the procedure. These deliberate, long-standing actions go beyond mere operational issues - they are a direct attack on the competitive foreign exchange market, designed to restrict Cinkciarz.pl's operations and cause harm to customers whose funds were blocked without justification.

The case will also be reported to the public prosecutor's office, requesting a special team of prosecutors to investigate suspected crimes committed by current and former bank board members. We demand that these individuals be prosecuted for unfair competitive practices, deliberately obstructing business and acting to the detriment of the company, its brand, customers and owners. We request a full investigation covering the entire period of the practices outlined and that those responsible be held accountable and face legal consequences.

Given the scale of the problem and the gravity of the allegations, Cinkciarz.pl also intends to inform the relevant European Union authorities to monitor the course of the proceedings and consider joining supervisory and prosecutorial actions. Full documentation, along with a detailed big data analysis of the banks' criminal activities, will be submitted to the relevant institutions later today.

Detailed data:

Summary of number of transactions, volume and average delay by year

Summary of number of transactions, volume and average delay by bank

Summary of number of transactions, volume and average delay by currency

The volume of all transactions was converted to PLN. The following were used for estimation:

a) exchange rates from the National Bank of Poland as of 30.10.2024,

b) for the Russian ruble: the NBP exchange rate of 23.02.2022,

c) for the Croatian kuna: the NBP exchange rate of 30.12.2022.