Votum Group: Thriving in FX Mortgage Claims Amidst Favorable Court Sentences - Maintaining a Neutral Recommendation with Limited Short-Term Catalysts
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Votum pursues damages claims for clients of financial institutions in the area of personal and property claims as well as abusive clauses in FX mortgage loan agreements. We believe the segment of pursuing claims from abusive clauses in FX loan agreements is thriving at the moment.
The Company has been the beneficiary of a growing number of pro-consumer court sentences as well as of growing interest of CHF borrowers in the court path following the first batch of favorable court sentences coupled with clear proconsumer case-law which was recently reinforced by the CJEU ruling regarding the case C-520/21 on the remuneration for the use of capital in CHF mortgages issued in June as well as the most recent judgment passed in the case C-140/22 regarding effects of customers statements.
Given numerous unfavorable court sentences banks strive to encourage their clients with FX mortgages to strike agreements, but due to favorable caselaw (most court sentences annul FX mortgages agreements) the benefits stemming from litigations clearly outweigh those from entering into agreements with banks which coupled with a substantial dispute value leads to an inflow of new clients to the Company.
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In the short term, we maintain our Neutral recommendation due to the lack of significant catalysts over the next three months. It is evident, that the judgments issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union clearly confirm the pro-consumer attitude (the latest examples are judgments regarding the statute of limitation for banks, e.g. case C-140/22, or case C-28/22, which will be decided soon), but taking into account their wide media reception they are probably already reflected in prices. The nearest catalyst may be the publication of quarterly results, but this will probably take place only in a few months’ time.
