Off-us ATM cash withdrawal transaction services

Decision adopted on the joined cases concerning (a) the ex officio investigation conducted by the Directorate General for Competition (hereinafter “DGC”) into the market for the provision of banking services and, in particular, in the sub-markets for retail and corporate banking, card issuing and acquiring, as well as into the markets for interbank systems, payment services and electronic transactions and (b) the ex officio investigation conducted by the DGC, following a complaint, into the markets for payment services, card issuing and merchant acquiring activities, provision of trading network services by use of electronic payment terminals and other devices, provision of acquiring processing services and interbank systems, in order to determine whether there is an infringement of Articles 1 and 2 of Law 3959/2011 (Greek Competition Act), as in force, and 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (hereinafter “TFEU”), following the settlement proposals submitted by the undertaking “HSBC CONTINENTAL EUROPE”.

Article 29a of Law 3959/2011 and par. 35 of HCC Plenary Decision no. 790/2022

Operative part of the Decision

The Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC), in plenary sitting and by open vote, unanimously decided as follows:

A. Finds that the undertaking under the name “HSBC CONTINENTAL EUROPE” infringed Article 1 of Greek Law 3959/2011 and Article 101 TFEU, by participating in a prohibited concerted practice, according to the grounds of the Decision.

Β. Imposes on “HSBC CONTINENTAL EUROPE” a reduced fine amounting to €21,375.4 for its participation in the above infringement of Articles 1 of Law 3959/2011 and 101 TFEU found according to the above grounds of the Decision.

“HSBC CONTINENTAL EUROPE”

As shown by the evidence contained in the case-file, the banking institutions concerned jointly engaged in the adoption of a new pricing model (namely, zero fees applicable to bilateral agreements between banking institutions and switching to Direct Access Fee – DAF) for ATM cash withdrawal transactions using cards issued by domestic payment service providers (PSPs) participating in the DIASATM network. They engaged, therefore, in an agreement and/or concerted practice aimed at proactively reducing any uncertainty entailed by an autonomous competitive behaviour regarding commercial policy.

The passive role of HSBC in the practice described above, through its attendance at a meeting of the Hellenic Banking Association (HBA) as well as at subsequent contacts of technical content, does not remove the unlawful nature of its participation in the above infringement found and cannot exempt it from the liability it incurs as a consequence of its participation therein as, in any event, HSBC did not publicly distance itself from the above infringement in such a way that other participants would consider it as ending its participation therein or report the infringement to the administrative authorities.

The agreement and/or concerted practice between the six Banks concerned regarding the adoption of the new DAF pricing model for interbank transactions using the DIASATM network resulted, considering the economic and legal framework (Regulation 924/2009), in the restriction of competition in breach of Articles 1(1) of Law 3959/2011 and 101(1) TFEU. In particular, it is estimated that it led to: (a) an increased level of the DAF charge for ATM cash withdrawal transactions by acquiring banks using cards issued by domestic payment service providers (PSPs) participating in the DIASATM network and (b) a reduced production, due to the reduced number of cash withdrawal transactions within the DIASATM network.