AGCM

PRESS RELEASE

LOANS: ANTITRUST LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO 6 BANKS IN THE PROVINCES OF TRENTO AND BOLZANO TO CHECK A POSSIBLE UNDERSTANDING ON RATES APPLIED TO CUSTOMERS

The measure was notified today to Cassa di Risparmio di Bolzano, Banca Popolare dell’Alto Adige, Cassa Raiffeisen di Brunico, Cassa Rurale Bolzano, Cassa Rurale Renon and Cassa Raiffeisen Valle Isarco in the course of some inspections carried out in collaboration with the Competition Group of the Special Markets Protection Unit of Guardia di Finanza and with the support of the Provincial Command of Bolzano of the Guardia di Finanza.

The Competition Authority, at its meeting of 7 May 2014, resolved to launch an investigation against six banks operating in the provinces of Bolzano and Trento to verify if they had put in place an anti-competitive agreement in determining the rates to be applied on real estate loans.

The measure was notified today to the banks concerned (Cassa di Risparmio di Bolzano, Banca Popolare dell’Alto Adige, Cassa Raiffeisen di Brunico, Cassa Rurale Bolzano, Cassa Rurale Renon and Cassa Raiffeisen Valle Isarco) in the course of some inspections carried out in collaboration with the Competition Group of the Special Markets Protection Unit of the Guardia di Finanza and with the support of the Provincial Command of Bolzano of the Guardia di Finanza.

The six banks are present in the territory of the two provinces with over 300 branches.

The investigation, also initiated in the light of a report of the consumers association Centro Tutela Consumatori Utenti Alto Adige, will evaluate the inclusion, in the variable rate mortgage contracts offered by the six banks, of the same clause on the presence of a so-called floor rate the amount of which was fixed at the identical rate of 3%: This is a minimal threshold below which the rate of interest applied to the loan cannot go. This value, given the current trend of interest rates, is not justified under normal competitive dynamics, as well as being particularly burdensome for customers.

According to the Antitrust, the uniform adoption of such a rate could be potentially suitable to coordinate the policies of the banks in avoiding competition model based on the reducing interest rates to acquire new customers.

The investigation must be completed by 15 May 2015.

Rome, 14 May 2014