Poland’s Competition Watchdog Hits Cartels & Banks With Nearly $115 Million in Fines

Key Takeaways

• Two Major UOKiK Decisions: Poland’s competition authority imposed nearly $115 million (about PLN 458 million) in combined fines across two enforcement actions targeting market collusion and consumer harm.
• Agricultural Machinery Cartel: Eight companies and two managers were fined about $85 million (PLN 339.08 million) for a decade-long scheme that divided territories and fixed prices for New Holland, Case, and Steyr machinery, limiting farmers’ ability to shop competitively.
• Mortgage Payment Holidays Violations: Two Pekao banks were fined a combined $29.8 million (nearly PLN 119 million) for unlawfully shortening repayment suspensions while extending loan terms, increasing borrowers’ total loan costs.
• Focus on Real-World Harm: UOKiK stressed tangible impacts in both cases (higher machinery prices for farmers and higher borrowing costs for households) rather than purely technical violations.

Deep Dive

Poland’s competition watchdog closed out the year with a one-two punch that landed hard across two very different corners of the economy. Within 48 hours, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) announced penalties for both a decade-long cartel in the agricultural machinery market and for unlawful handling of mortgage payment holidays by two major banks.

Both decisions, issued by UOKiK President Tomasz Chróstny, are not yet final. Together, however, they send a clear signal that the authority is prepared to pursue both classic competition violations and consumer harm with equal force.

A Closed Market for Farmers

The larger of the two cases centers on a long-running collusion scheme that, according to UOKiK, quietly reshaped how Polish farmers were allowed to buy tractors and harvesters. For more than 11 years, farmers seeking New Holland, Case, or Steyr machinery found that shopping around rarely paid off. Dealers would ask where a farm was located and, if it fell outside their assigned territory, either redirect the buyer to another seller or quietly raise the price.

UOKiK says this was no coincidence. The authority found that CNH Industrial Polska and a network of dealers had carved up the country into exclusive sales territories and reinforced that division with pricing arrangements designed to neutralize competition. Internal emails obtained during searches of company premises showed dealers coordinating responses to out-of-area customers and, in some cases, being warned not to pursue sales that could “cause serious problems” for neighboring dealers.

In total, UOKiK imposed roughly $85 million (PLN 339 million) in fines on eight companies and two managers. The bulk of the penalty, about $60.4 million (PLN 241.6 million), was levied against CNH Industrial Polska, which the authority described as the organizer and enforcer of the scheme. Seven dealers were also fined, along with two managers who UOKiK said were directly responsible for maintaining the illegal arrangements.

Chróstny was blunt about the impact. Farmers, he said, were stripped of the basic right to compare offers and negotiate price, which is no small matter when buying equipment that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The decision, UOKiK stressed, reflects the seriousness of a cartel that eliminated competition across an entire distribution network for more than a decade.

Mortgage Relief That Cost More Than It Saved

A day later, UOKiK turned its attention from fields to finance, announcing a second decision tied to Poland’s mortgage payment holidays. The program, introduced in 2022, was meant to give borrowers breathing room as interest rates surged, allowing them to suspend up to 12 monthly installments through the end of 2024.

According to UOKiK, that relief was improperly implemented by Bank Polska Kasa Opieki SA and Pekao Bank Hipoteczny SA. The authority found that when borrowers applied late in a quarter, the banks granted suspensions only from the date of application rather than for the full month, yet still extended the loan term by a full month regardless. The result, UOKiK said, was that some consumers repaid their loans longer than they should have, increasing the total cost through additional interest.

For those practices, the banks were fined a combined $29.8 million (nearly PLN 119 million). Pekao accounted for almost all of that amount, with a penalty of about $29.5 million (PLN 117.8 million), while Pekao Bank Hipoteczny was fined roughly $296,000 (PLN 1.18 million). Both institutions have also been ordered to inform affected customers about the violations.

“The idea was real support during a period of high inflation,” Chróstny said, adding that extending loan terms beyond the actual suspension undermined the purpose of the law. UOKiK noted that the banks eventually discontinued the practices—which ends the loan-extension model in late 2023 and the shortened suspension approach at the end of 2024 but only after they had affected a significant number of borrowers.

Enforcement With Breadth

While the two cases involve very different conduct, they point in the same direction. UOKiK is showing a willingness to dig deeply, whether into years of dealer emails or the fine print of consumer relief programs, and to impose penalties that reflect both duration and impact.

Both decisions can still be challenged before Poland’s Court of Competition and Consumer Protection. For now, though, they stand as a reminder that in Poland, quietly closing off markets or trimming consumer rights at the margins can carry a price tag measured not just in złoty, but in tens of millions of U.S. dollars.

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