LETTER SENT TO ABI AND CO.GE.BAN. RE INTERBANK COMMISSIONS
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
Bancomat: Antitrust advises ABI-Cogeban that banks, in setting prices, should take into account recent reductions in interbank commissions. Ruling on commitments sent to Brussels for opinion.
In autonomously determining their end-user prices for bancomat services, banks should take into consideration the reductions in interbank commissions introduced as a result of the commitments presented to the Antitrust Authority by ABI and Co.Ge.Ban.
This was the expectation expressed by the Italian Competition Authority in a letter to the two associations.
The commitments presented by the parties during the investigation launched in November 2006 into anti-competitive conduct have been forwarded to the European Commission for its expert opinion. Specifically, the parties undertook to reduce by 10.67 per cent the interbank commissions (those charged by one bank to another) on cash withdrawals from ATMs belonging to other banks, beginning on 1 January 2007.
The Authority had launched the investigation to ascertain the existence or otherwise of violations of the antitrust rules in the collective fixing by members of the associations of the maximum interbank commissions for cash withdrawals using a Bancomat card at ATMs of other banks and for payment services by the methods known as RID (Rapporti Interbancari Diretti, or Direct Interbank Transfers) and Ri.Ba (Ricevuta Bancaria Elettronica, or Electronic Bank Receipt).
The assessment of these commitments will be concluded by 30 April 2007.
Rome, 30 March 2007