Cetelem, the main credit subsidiary of BNP Paribas, was heavily condemned this Wednesday by the Paris criminal court. One year after the immense sanction imposed on the Swiss banking group UBS, French justice was interested this time in these 4600 borrowers badly or not informed in 2008 and 2009 of the risks induced by toxic loans proposed by Cetelem.
At the end of fifteen days of trial, the structure was found guilty of "deceptive commercial practice" and "concealment" of this criminal offense. For this, she was sentenced to a maximum fine of 187,500 euros but also and above all to enormous damages. According to several sources, these damages could amount to around 200 to 300 million euros. For approximately 2,500 civil parties.
The court forced the bank to pay these amounts quickly even if it decided to appeal. The decision was greeted with thunderous applause in a crowded room. The borrowers, "ruined but so relieved" according to a young retiree, smiled or wiped a tear. "We do not yet know if it is a record amount, since there are 200 pages of tables to add," said Hélène Feron-Poloni, lawyer for more than a dozen civil parties. In any case, there are very few criminal trials against a bank. It had never even happened with so many civil parties ”.
Many still owe more than the original loan
As a reminder, the court ruled on the marketing in 2008 and 2009 of very attractive loans but whose contracts "never mentioned the exchange risk", which was however "the main characteristic" of the loan. The singularity of this loan was indeed that it was denominated in Swiss francs but repayable in euros.
Result: when after the 2008 financial crisis, the euro stalled against the Swiss currency, some 4,600 borrowers saw the amounts to be reimbursed. Many still owe more capital than the amount borrowed while paying for more than ten years.
At the end of the hearing, Hervé, a 58-year-old engineer, still couldn't get over it. With his wife, they had borrowed 147,000 euros in 2008 to buy a small apartment in the Bordeaux region, and still owe 149,000 euros to the bank. “We obtained 56,000 euros in damages, each more 10,000 euros in moral damages, and 3,500 euros in legal costs. We will be able to sell the T2 and settle everything. We breathe, ”he explained.
Surprised, BNP is considering appealing
The bank, which refutes any illegal practice, had pleaded for release and has not yet indicated whether it would appeal. "The decision rendered does not appear to us to be consistent with those pronounced so far by the civil courts," contented himself with declaring one of his lawyers, Me Ludovic Malgrain. Indeed: while the courts have rendered some 80 decisions favorable to the bank in civil matters.
"For my clients, this is a tremendous victory and a turning point in this case: no French jurisdiction will be able to ignore this conviction from now on," said Charles Constantin-Vallet, lawyer for 1,300 civil parties.
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After the hearing, the injured borrowers gathered around their lawyer in the atrium of the ground floor, to "understand" the decision. And finally to applaud the one who has been carrying their file and their "miseries" for years.
