WISE condemned: Neo-Bank must provide comprehensive GDPR information and bear legal costs

An Austrian court has granted several claims in a legal dispute between a bank customer and Wise Europe SA/NV. The plaintiff demanded that WISE provide information on all transactions on his bank account, the transfer of the resulting account balance and comprehensive information in accordance with Art. 15 GDPR, including information on the transfer of personal data to third parties.

In a 14-page judgment, the court ordered WISE to provide comprehensive GDPR information within 14 days, including the transmission of a digital copy of the plaintiff’s personal data processed. In addition, WISE was ordered to reimburse the plaintiff for the legal costs.

The plaintiff had argued that he had been denied access to his account without being informed of the reasons. This was unlawful and incomprehensible, and the sudden refusal of access to his business and private accounts had caused significant business disadvantages. Furthermore, WISE withheld the sometimes substantial account balances for almost two months without giving reasons and only paid out after repeated requests from the customer’s lawyers. WISE denied the allegations and referred to an ‘internal risk assessment’ that had led to the account being frozen, but refused to provide the framework data or the basis for this risk assessment. The plaintiff had been a bank customer for seven years with high turnover and without any complaints.

The court found that the plaintiff was to be considered a consumer under European consumer protection regulations and that the Austrian court therefore had jurisdiction over the case. It was found that WISE’s choice of law clause, which provided for Belgian law, was abusive because it did not sufficiently inform the plaintiff about the protection of mandatory consumer protection provisions.

Ultimately, WISE had to reimburse the plaintiff’s legal costs and provide comprehensive GDPR information.