On 28 August, the Financial Supervision Commission maintained the punishment of PLN 20 million imposed on XTB for deficiencies of 2022-2023 concerning the assessment of customers, mark groups, conflicts of interest and CFD hazard information. The decision is final in the administrative process. For investors, this is simply a strong warning: easy access to complex products does not release the company from reliable client protection.
Penalties retained after re-examination
The Financial Supervision Commission has informedthat on 28 August 2026 she issued a final decision maintaining the sanction against XTB SA. The punishment is PLN 20 million. The Commission issued its first decision in this case on 30 March and the company subsequently requested a review.
The dispute concerns practices applied from 1 January 2022 to August or September 2023, depending on the kind of infringement. So it is not a single method mistake or a temporary failure of the platform. Oversight questioned the way the company investigated client preparation to usage complex instruments and presented the associated risks.
Four KNF charges against XTB
The KNF identified 4 groups of irregularities. The first was to find whether the client had the cognition and experience needed to realize the risks of brokerage services and financial instruments. According to the supervision, MiFID survey methodology could consider complex products appropriate besides on the basis of client experience with simpler instruments.
The second allegation included an incorrect definition of the mark product groups. The Commission considered that the criteria did not adequately take into account the nature and complexity of the different instruments. In practice, a client with no experience in CFD contracts could be qualified as a client of specified products after the affirmative consequence of the survey.
The 3rd issue afraid the HOT list made available to customers. According to the KNF, the conflict of interest management policy did not decently recognise that the promotion of instruments with higher spread could have meant a possibly higher income of the company. The 4th plea referred to unreliable or misleading information on CFD instruments and risks.
A free marketplace requires fair information
Economic freedom is not about leaving a client to himself with a product he may not understand. Its condition is honest information, clear principles and work of both parties. The investor is liable for his own decisions, but the transaction-handling company is required to accurately present the hazard and to check whether the instrument offered matches the customer's knowledge.
CFD contracts let to speculate on changes in asset prices without direct ownership. The usage of leverage may increase the result, but besides rapidly increase the loss. Therefore, the XTB case has a broader meaning than the punishment itself. It concerns a standard of work on the market, which has been visited by many fresh investors utilizing mainly mobile applications in fresh years.
This is another large supervisory sanction in 2026. In August we described PLN 47,5 million of penalties imposed on PKO BP in relation to structured deposits. In both cases, the key is to defend the citizen from a situation where the financial institution has an advantage in knowledge, tools and documentation, and the client bears the effects of the poorly recognised risk.
Savings of Poles are at stake
PLN 20 million is impressive, but for a average client it is more crucial whether the survey, product description and hazard informing truly aid to make an informed decision. Supervision should not replace an adult man or choke innovation with further formalities. However, it must enforce rules where their violation can hit the savings of thousands of Poles.
The Polish capital marketplace needs strong national investment firms. He besides needs trust. National capital will not grow on the indulgence of errors, but on fair conditions of competition and liability towards the customer. The decision of the KNF recalls that the modern application cannot become a veil for unclear sales rules for risky products.
Source: Financial Supervision Commission, RMF24/PAP.
