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11 French Banks Fined $508 Million For Price Fixing

Paris : France | Sep 20, 2010 at 5:03 AM PDT

By Robert Weller

5 0

The entrance of banking group Societe Generale's headquarters

Competition Authority Says Banks Colluded On Prices

Eleven French banks have been fined a total of $508 million for fixing prices on how much they charge account holders for handling checks.

Le Monde and the BBC identified the banks as BNP Paribas, HSBC, Banque de France, BPCE, Banque Postale, Confederation Nationale du Credit Mutual, Credit Agricole, Credit du Nord, CIC, LCL and Societe Generale.

“When the new digial system for processing and clearing interbank checks was set up, the main French banks met and colluded so as to define together the functioning details of the new system,” a statement from the competition authority said.

The increases were added as part of a new digital system for handling checks. The banks said they made the agreement to account for the 4.3 percent commission lost under the new system.

The charges were imposed during 2002-2007, in the years leading up to the change to the digital system, and cost account holders $287 million.

A separate investigation is under way on whether the banks colluded on bank card fees.

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France's competition has fined 11 major banks for price fixing.

Robert Weller is based in Denver, Colorado, United States of America, and is an Anchor for Allvoices.

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Competition watchdog fines 11 French banks

The Age

The banks in 2002 introduced a 4.3 euro cents (A4.59 cents) commission per cheque, arguing that it was necessary to compensate for a loss of revenue which came after the cheque processing system was speeded up. The banks argued that they were losing...
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Monday September 20 2010 France's competition watchdog has fined a group of leading banks including BNP Paribas and Societe Generale 385m for illegally fixing the price for cheque clearing services between 2002 and 2007...The watchdog said the fee...
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Eleven banks were found to have drawn up an illegal agreement to fix a cheque-processing fee of five-and-a-half cents which was applied to 80 per cent of all cheques in France between 2002 and 2007. The banks argued that the digital era made...
France Fines Banks in Fee Cartel

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French competition watchdog Monday fined 11 banks 384.9 million ($501.8 million) for colluding on charging unjustified fees on checks and other interbank services. The watchdog said the banks colluded to apply a 0.043 fee on 80% of checks exchanged...

Blogs

The Blogger: French banks fined 385m euros for fixing cheque fees

luishipolito.blogspot.com

French banks fined 385m euros for fixing cheque fees. France's competition authority has fined 11 French banks 384.9m euros ($504m; £323m) for colluding to fix the price they charge for handling cheques. They charged an unjustified fee ...

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French Banks Fined

French Banks Fined

Image Source: allvoices

France's competition has fined 11 major banks for price fixing.
The entrance of banking group ...

The entrance of banking group ...

Image Source: www.afp.com

The entrance of banking group Societe Generale's headquarters