"We have filed the complaint because banks have been coordinating their activities all along, which was best seen during the negotiations at the Finance Ministry, as well as in statements by the Croatian Banking Association (HUB), which always relays the general positions of all seven banks, from which it can be concluded that their operations are, to say the least, a result of an agreement," Franak said.
It underlined that representatives of several biggest banks in Croatia, which account for the largest share of the banking market in the country, had conducted talks with Franak "as if they presented positions of all banks in the negotiations."
"How is it possible for the seven biggest banks operating in Croatia to act as a single entity?" Franak asks and adds that in its media statements "HUB frequently threatens legal security by saying that there are no overpaid amounts of interest which banks unilaterally increased on several occasions."
The only class action launched in the country so far over consumer protection was launched against eight commercial banks for violation of collective interests and consumer rights when agreements on loans indexed in the Swiss franc were signed. The High Commercial Court made a final ruling in the case on 13 June 2014.
The court at the time only partially accepted the complaint against seven banks in the part that refers to the unilateral setting of interest rates. The ruling is currently under review by the Supreme Court.
The banks against which the court ruled are Zagrebacka Banka, Privredna Banka Zagreb, Erste&Steiermaerkische Bank, Raiffeisenbank Austria, Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank, OTP Bank Croatia and Societe Generale-Splitska Banka.