THE ANTITRUST AUTHORITY AND THE BANK OF ITALY: AN AGREEMENT ON THE BANKING MERGERS
PRESS RELEASE
The Italian Competition Authority and the Bank of Italy have signed a cooperation agreement which regulates the relationship between the two institutions with regards to the procedures to be undertaken in antitrust enforcement activities dealing with banks and finance companies. The agreement provides for detailed procedures in the case of mergers and, as far as applicable, to abuses or restrictive agreements as well.
In particular, with respect to the definition of the banking markets involved (deposits and loans), the two parties have agreed that, as a rule, the starting definition of the deposit market must include a whole series of products such as the money deposits and the time deposits and also the certificates of deposit. With regards to the loan market, it is agreed that both the short-term credit and the medium/long-term credit should be taken into account in defining the relevant product market. As for the definition of the geographic market, the narrowest territory, within which the effects of the merger have to be considered, has been identified, as a first approximation, in the province, with regards to the deposits, and in the region, with regards to the loans.
With respect to the mixed sector operations, considering both the nature of the parties and the markets involved, the agreement provides for the creation of a working group which will be formed by representatives of the two institutions and whose aim will be carrying out an in-depth analysis of the activities performed by banks and finance companies, in order to identify which of the two regulatory agencies has jurisdiction.
In the meanwhile, so as to simplify the notification procedures for merger operations, the agreement provides that companies can file their notification with either of the two institutions, which then will be in charge of forwarding it to the other so that it can express the appropriate enforcement appraisals.
Finally, the agreement provides for detailed procedures regarding the publication of the decisions taken by the Authority and by the Bank of Italy, in compliance with Section 26 of Law no. 287/90. In those cases where the Bank of Italy decides not to initiate a full phase investigation, the cooperation agreement provides for the publication of both the Bank of Italy's decision as well as the Authority's advisory opinion. In those cases where the Bank of Italy decides to initiate a full phase investigation, both the Authority's opinion on the proposed final decision and the Bank's closing decision are to be published.