2012-12-21 10:56

Competition panel slaps record fine on Lithuania's banks for cartel agreement

Lithuania's Competition Council slapped fines totaling more than 57 million litas (EUR 16.52m) on the country's three major banks - SEB Bankas, Swedbank, and DNB Bankas - and the security firm G4S Lietuva for cartel practises. This is the biggest fine ever imposed for a cartel agreement since Lithuania's independence. In 2005, oil processor Mažeikių Nafta (Mažeikiai Oil, now Orlen Lietuva) was fined 32 million litas for competition violations.
Банкомат Swedbank в Латвии.
Swedbank / „Scanpix“ nuotr.
Temos: 1 SEB bankas

SEB Bankas was fined 24.81 million litas, Swedbank, 14.244 million litas, G4S Lietuva, 9.438 million litas, and DNB Bankas, 8.63 million litas, the competition authority said.

The decision can be taken to a court within 20 days.

Swedbank and DNB will contest the fines, according to Swedbank spokesman Saulius Abraškevičius and DNB Bankas spokesman Andrius Vilkancas.

SEB Bankas spokesman Arvydas Žilinskas told BNS that the bank had not violated any competition legislation, but it was yet to decide whether or not to appeal the decision.

"Anti-trust probes are beneficial, particularly in sectors dominated by several large players. In our turn, we may say that the fines imposed will not affect the banks' activities since the sums amount to a meager part of the assets managed by the banks," Vitas Vasiliauskas, Lithuania's central bank governor, told BNS.

Under the agreements concerned, the banks committed themselves to buy all cash management services exclusively from G4S, which limited the possibilities of other cash management services providers to compete, the panel stated.

Report mistake
Successfully sent
Thank you