The Competition Council Investigates Banks Operating In Romania

The Competition Council screens the financial institutions for possible infringement to the law. “Our investigation is based on suspicions raised by the media regarding a possible inside trading of information as well as illegal practices the banks deploy in their relationship with their customers,” the president of the Council Gheorghe Oprescu said.

On Thursday, inspectors converged on the headquarters of the main banks operating in Romania, after they took stock of the media reports and the signals the Central Bank gave them.

“The investigation will target three or four commercial banks,” told Capital magazine Josef Nandor Nemeny, a member in the Council.

The banks to be investigated are Bancpost, ING, Royal Bank of Scotland and UniCredit.

“In the case of Bancpost, for instance, there were cases of people getting commissions without having signed any contract, while other banks raised interest rates to unreasonable high levels, both for savings accounts and credits,” explained Nemeny.

“Some banks hiked the interest rates to 60% per year, continued Nemeny. The banks trading market was not without problems, but while the .Central Bank takes care of the operations performed on it, the Competition Council steps in when unfair practices occur, like, for instance, banks aligning their interest rates at the same level.”