The Competition Commission has fined major Greek banks for stealing customers’ money when withdrawing money from ATMs.
By agreeing to pay a fine of €41,756,180.10, the Competition Commission reached a settlement with the banks on the issue of commissions and fees, thereby closing an investigation that began in 2019 and essentially proved that banks stole money citizens through illegal increases in fees, when customers used another bank’s ATM.
According to him, Banks plead guilty to conspiracy to fix prices for a specific banking transaction and face fines from EA, which are estimated at more than 40 million euros for all four banks. EA will also be fined and EA is believed to have played an active role in the commercial bank collusion.
For their part, Eurobank, National Bank, Piraeus Bank, Alpha Bank and EETT denied the allegations of collusion, stating that the relevant discussions and correspondence concerned an institutional dialogue with a foreign entity (Visa) and were not aimed at consultations on the determination of commercial policy, and these arguments were not accepted by the Competition Commission.
The bank management was concerned about the acceptance of the agreement, and there were thoughts of letting the process develop, but in the end they accepted the recommendations of the legal service to close the case, since otherwise it would drag on for a long time, with an uncertain final result. In particular, the commission imposed fines for committing established violations of Article 1 of Law No. 3959/2011 and 101 TFEU, depending on the relevant turnover, as follows:
- Piraeus Bank: €12,993,482.86
- National Bank: €9,978,799.18
- Alpha Bank: €9,110,682.91
- Eurobank: € 7,976,790.63
- Attica Bank: €143,181.65
- ET: €1,553,242.87
It is unknown whether these fines will be paid, and it is also unlikely that banks will return the excess of the above commission to users.
Among other things, the agreement obliges the above-mentioned companies to reduce, as of January 1, 2024, the DAF fee for ATM cash withdrawals using cards issued by other institutions, so that it is limited to the following:
- Piraeus Bank: up to 2.00 € from the current amount of 3.00 €,
- Ethniki Bank: up to 1.90 € from the current amount of 2.60 €,
- Alpha Bank: up to 1.80 euros from 2.50 euros,
- Eurobank: up to 1.80 euros from the current amount of 2.50 euros,
- Attica Bank: up to 1.50 euros from 2.00 euros.
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