Banking sector under the Competition Council's scrutiny

The high fees for early loan repayment, the conditioning by the banks of the granting of a loan on the opening of a current account and in some cases on the acquisition of an insurance policy as well, but also the fees related to using cards for payments are some of the Competition Council's issues of concern related to the banking sector.
Nevertheless, the Council has just one investigation underway in the banking area, opened one year ago, when several banks allegedly tried to manipulate currency market interest rates.
"It's a field of concern for us. It is important through the number of involved consumers, it has high profit margins and interests are high. When you see high profit margins in a field, you take a close look," says Bogdan Chiritoiu, 39, Competition Council chairman.
Last year, banks generated a record net income of 1.2bn euros, even though they started feeling the crisis in the last quarter.
As an administrative authority, the Council has powers to restore and maintain a competitive environment, as well as supervise players in the economy. Like most supervisory bodies, the Council is highly discreet as regards the investigations it carries out.
Chiritoiu is unwilling to talk about possible plans to launch investigations. "As a rule, an investigation starts with an unexpected inspection. We do not want to warn those we target".
However, he is not concerned about the banking field, considering the market is sufficiently fragmented for competition not to be blatantly harmed. Still, the Council plans to scrutinise market sub-segments, at a regional level.
Chiritoiu says early loan repayment fees only make sense in the case of loans with fixed interests, where banks take on bigger risks. However, the Competition Council cannot initiate legislative projects, with the Consumer Protection Authority having such powers.
Chiritoiu says he is trying to improve collaboration with the Consumer Protection National Authority and with the NBR.