Brussels, 2 September 2024
The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, the reintroduction of a Polish credit union liquidation scheme, including a budget increase by €770 million (PLN 3.3 billion). The purpose of the scheme is to facilitate the orderly liquidation of credit unions operating in Poland. The scheme will run until September 2025.
The scheme, originally approved by the Commission in February 2014, has been prolonged and reintroduced several times since then. The last reintroduction of the scheme was approved by the Commission in September 2023 and expired in July 2024.
With the reintroduction approved today, the measure will be again available for credit unions that are member-owned entities and provide loans, savings accounts and payment services only to their membership. Credit unions fall outside the scope of the bank resolution regime in Poland. The budget of the scheme has been increased by €770 million (PLN 3.3 billion), from €1.62 billion (PLN 6.9 billion) to €2.39 billion (PLN 10.2 billion), to better accommodate for the potential needs of the sector.
The Commission assessed the reintroduced scheme under EU State aid rules, in particular the 2013 Banking Communication. The Commission found that the scheme remains necessary and appropriate to achieve the objective pursued. In addition, the Commission found that the scheme remains well-targeted, proportionate and limited in time and scope. On this basis, the Commission approved the reintroduced scheme under EU State aid rules.
The non-confidential version of the decision will be made available under the case number SA.114922 in the State aid register on the Commission’s competition website once any confidentiality issues have been resolved.