Competitive Court has finally decided to impose fines of 225 million Euros on 12 banks. These 12 banks were hoping that the court would dismiss the fines. The Court fines €225 million are upheld by the Competitive Court which was implemented many years ago.
Court Decides To Impose Fines On 12 Banks
The decision has been finalized by the Competitive Court which has decided to impose a 225 million Euros fine. According to them:
[The banks] had not shown a sense of judgment towards the conduct that harmed consumers.
Portuguese Court has ordered many banks to pay fines from 12 various banks. These fines range from various categories. The final decision from the court to pay fines for the following banks:
- Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD): Pay a fine of 82 million Euros
- Banco Comercial Português (BCP): Pay fine of 60 million Euros
- Santander Totta: Pay a fine of 35.65 million Euros
- BPI (Banco Português de Investimento): Fine of 30 million Euros
- Montepio: Fine of 13 million Euros
- BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria): The court ordered to pay a fine of 2.5 million Euros
- BES: A fine of 700,000 Euros
- Banco BIC (due to the acts carried out by BPN): Fine of 500,000 Euros
- Caixa Central de Crédito Agrícola: Pay a fine of 350,000 Euros
- União de Créditos Imobiliarios: A fine of 150,000 Euros
The judgment of this case came from Judge, Mariana Gomes Machado regarding these fines. This decision has come from the judge against the ‘banking cartel’. Judge Mariana stated:
The offense is very serious since the defendant’s reduced competition through a concerted practice.
Price Fixing Between Banks Should Not Be Repeated
Barclays is a bank that did not follow this practice, and they denounced it. This is why the court has not fined them for this matter. The judge wanted to send a clear message about the practice which is followed by the many banks. This practice will not be accepted further and fine will be imposed by the court. It is stated that:
The judge considered that there was a ‘homogeneous degree in the behaviour’ of the banks in this collusion and that the extent of concerted practices was explicit in the example that CGD received information from Montepio into which it added its data and sent it to BPI.
These fines are imposed on the 14 banks that followed the practice of price fixing. If in the future, there are other banks involved in this practice, they will be fined according to the court. These fines were also imposed after an investigation of more than 10 years (2002-2013). Some banks had shared some sensitive information for the supply of retail banking. It is stated:
By distorting the rules of competition through unlawful coordination that allowed them (banks) to reduce the risk and uncertainty about the performance of their direct competitors, the behavior of the banks harmed competition, directly affecting consumers.
This decision has been implemented by the court as this practice has been used for more than 20 years. It is reported that the banks will take legal action against the decision of the Competitive Court.
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