The public prosecutor’s office requested Tuesday before the Paris Court of Appeal the maximum fine of 187,500 euros against BNP Paribas Personal Finance for misleading commercial practice and concealment, considering that it had “hidden” the risks of its Helvet Immo loan from consumers.
Regretting the weakness of the penalty incurred, the representative of the public prosecutor also requested an obligation to publish the conviction on the front page of the main newspapers.
The situation is shocking, you have more than 2,500 people who have a wasted life and a bank which has grown rich on the backs of its customers, he declared in conclusion, in a courtroom where a hundred borrowers.
During the trial at first instance, at the end of 2019, the prosecution had adopted an unusual position of neutrality.
This time, the public prosecutor unambiguously called for the conviction, stressing the importance of several decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union, which took place between the two trials, in the civil aspect of this case.
At the heart of this file in which the credit subsidiary of BNP Paribas disputes any fraudulent practice, the marketing, in 2008 and 2009, of more than 4,600 contracts for this loan contracted in Swiss francs but repayable in euros.
Intended for tax-exempt rental investment, this credit has become toxic in the wake of the financial crisis: the euro has depreciated sharply against the Swiss currency, which has led to a surge in the amounts repaid.
Thus, a couple who had borrowed 143,000 euros and already towards 57,000 euros on 83 monthly payments, still had to repay 190,600 euros, an increase of 32% of the outstanding capital, cited as an example the general counsel.
In this situation, the bank has, according to him, a heavy responsibility: it committed misleading omissions in the loan offer and in the commercial arguments provided to the intermediaries.
We hid a number of risks from the borrower to push him to take out this loan, argued Yves Micolet.
The approximately 2,500 people who are civil parties were taking their first steps in finance and tax exemption, underlined the magistrate.
It was not they who were wrong but it was the bank who deceived them, he said, mocking the headlong rush of the company, whose arguments have no place before a court. call as they are unserious.
At first instance, the subsidiary was sentenced on February 26, 2020 to a fine of 187,500 euros and to pay more than 100 million in damages, immediately, despite its appeal.
The defense must plead in the afternoon.