Until 2007, BZ WBK almost did not grant franc loans. This changed when Mateusz Morawiecki became the president of the bank. Besides, he also enlisted a large loan (worth over PLN 2 million) in Swiss francs at that time. The BZ WBK he managed did not have the slightest scruples with squeezing this type of products to naive customers.

Frank loans were an idea on how to get the skin from Polish citizens – said in February 2015, during the growing election campaign before the presidential election, and then before the parliamentary elections, PiS president Jarosław Kaczyński.

Mateusz Morawiecki, who was listening to him at the time, then the president of the BZ WBK bank controlled by the Spanish investor, had to skin. Not even because the PiS has openly announced in the campaign that the costs of disarming the franc bomb will be transferred to banks by automatically converting loans at the exchange rate on the day they were incurred. Rather, because the portfolio of franc loans in BZ WBK clearly charged the account of the chairman Morawiecki junior.’

Mateusz Morawiecki found a job at Bank Zachodni, thanks to connections among Wroclaw politicians from the Solidarity camp at the end of the 90s. BZ was admittedly a red refuge, after all, his long-standing president was the former secretary of PZPR from Jelenia Góra. But flexible enough that he could get along with the new power.

Morawiecki junior, although he was a historian by education, in the 90’s he completed several courses, internships and earned his diplomas in finance. And as a prospective young wolf, he was placed near the board. And at the perfect moment. The Western Bank was just being prepared for privatization – or thieving privatization, as some PiS politicians maintain.

The bank was bought by the Irish from the AIB group, and Morawiecki Jr became a close associate of the gray eminence of the privatized institution, Irishman Liam Horgan. AIB previously bought another privatized bank, Wielkopolski Bank Kredytowy from Poznań and at the beginning of the previous decade merged these companies.

The current president of WBK, the experienced banker Jacek Kseń, became the president of the newly created BZ WBK, and Mateusz Morawiecki, thanks to the growing competences and affinities with Horgan, got a well-paid job of the manager responsible for administration and IT.

Both teams – Wroclaw and Poznan from the beginning did not like each other. Ba fought each other. And the IT department under control of Morawiecki had his hands full of combining BZ and WBK computer systems.

The endless conflict in the bank ended in 2007 with the departure of Jacek Ksenia. The Irish then put on a little known on the banking market Mateusz Morawiecki making him a place in the chair of the president. Today, it is impossible to determine whether Morawiecki was given a post for outstanding managerial skills or for being reliable towards Irish superiors. The fact is, however, that until the bank was governed by Kseń BZ WBK did not give mortgage loans in francs.

The Polish Financial Supervision Authority, or the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, fiercely fought to stop the wave of franc loans, rightly claiming that the franc exchange rate that is exceptionally attractive at that time could change and that borrowers would drown in unpaid debts. The KNF even issued a recommendation, a provision obligatory for banks, obliging them to tighten financial criteria for persons submitting applications for franc loans. The then still in power PiS sharply protested against these restrictions, treating them as an attack on economic freedoms and the construction sector, one of the pillars of economic growth. And indirectly also on the PiS government allegedly attacked from all sides.

Mateusz Morawiecki, as the bank’s president, also enlisted a large loan (worth over PLN 2 million) in Swiss francs at that time. BZ WBK, who he managed, did not have the slightest scruples with squeezing these types of products to naive customers. Due to the fact that the Irish bank entered quite late into the franc loans market, it did not manage to raise before the financial crisis and the sharp increase in the franc rate of the large portfolio of these toxic assets. Only that at the hand of Morawiecki, the Irish bank bought the Warsaw Kredyt Bank, an institution packed into the ears with franc loans. In total, the BZ WBK group made a portfolio worth about PLN 15 billion worth of such products. With the knowledge, consent and acceptance of the President of Morawiecki.