A new law approved in Poland is giving Portugal’s BCP Millennium bank a “massive headache”, reports national media this morning.
In just one day it plunged share values down causing stock market losses of €283 million.
The law opened the way for clients holding mortgages in Swiss Francs to transfer them to Polish zlotys.
As Reuters explains, the change spells disaster for banks, as it effectively doubles their costs.
The new legislation is already causing havoc in Poland where it could cost banks there “more than 2.5 billion”.
“One of the affected banks is Millennium BCP,” explains Observador website, as it has “relevant operations” in Poland.
Since the middle of July, the website explains BCP’s share price has been decimated, dropping overall by 20%.
Other banks are also in the firing line, among them Spanish Santander, Germany’s Commerzbank and Italy’s UniCredit.
