The Competition Authority has today authorised commercial banks, savings banks, pension funds and the Housing Finance Fund to apply hardship measures in a coordinated manner for individuals with mortgages. The decision concerns, on the one hand, an agreement between financial market companies, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Insurance, and the Ministry of Trade, on the coordinated application of hardship measures, from 3 April, and on the other hand, an agreement on the application of offset for individuals with interest-rate-indexed mortgages, from 8 April 2010.
The decision states that there are grounds to grant permission for the said cooperation, as the agreements are to the substantial advantage of the debtor and even the creditors as things stand. It is significant in this regard that the agreements are terminable and for a limited time, and do not prevent competitors from pursuing further remedies for the benefit of customers. The agreements are therefore authorised with reference to Article 15 of the Competition Act.
In order to prevent the said harmonisation of debt relief measures from leading to further harmonisation of commercial terms, to the detriment of competition, consumers and business life, The decision provides for specific reporting to the Competition Authority on the terms of business of individual companies in the financial market that are parties to the agreement. The decision also directs the customer representatives appointed to the three state-owned banks to ensure that the respective banks operate in accordance with the decision.
The Competition Authority received submissions regarding the agreements on 6 and 8 April. Final documents for the Competition Authority's investigation were received from the parties on 15 and 21 April. Previously, the Competition Authority had granted the Association of Financial Institutions an exemption from competition law to develop a joint procedure on how to assist those in serious payment difficulties, by letter dated on 30 January. The outcome of that work was submitted to the Competition Authority with the aforementioned submissions, which are now under consideration.
See the decision for details No. 16/2009.
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