Greek banks under investigation for collaboration - competition watchdog

CrediaBank SA

08/11/2019 15:52

ATHENS, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Greece's competition watchdog
confirmed on Friday that it had raided all the country's major
banks a day earlier as part of an investigation into
collaboration between lenders. 
    Inspectors raided the head offices of National Bank
 NBGr.AT , Piraeus Bank  BOPr.AT , Eurobank  EURBr.AT , Alpha
Bank  ACBr.AT , Attica Bank  BOAr.AT  and the offices of the
Greek bank association, bankers said on Thursday.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N27N5VU
    They said the competition authority, which is an independent
body, had carried out the unprecedented raids because it was
looking into whether banks had colluded on transaction fees.
    "The checks reflected the Competition Commission's concerns
that the businesses under investigation may have been involved
in anti-competitive practices of horizontal collaboration," the
authority said in a statement on Friday.
    It said the raids, which it had been planning for weeks,
were preliminary steps in cases where there may be indications
of anti-competitive practices.     
    "Conducting such probes does not prejudge that firms being
investigated have indeed been involved in anti-competitive
behaviour, nor the probe's outcome," the authority said.
    Some bankers told Reuters on Thursday that the raids were
politically motivated.
    Last month, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis urged banks
to revoke increases in charges for a series of services.
    On Friday, Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis said the
government had nothing to do with the raids, saying the
authority was an independent body.
    "I assure you that the ministry did not have the slightest
involvement in yesterday's developments," he told Skai TV. "I
was not aware, I should not have been aware and, fortunately, I
did not know about it."

 (Reporting by George Georgiopoulos and Renee Maltezou; Editing
by David Clarke)
 ((george.georgiopoulos@thomsonreuters.com; +30210 337 6437;
Reuters Messaging:
george.georgiopoulos.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))