Cypriot Banks Face Competition Probe Over Price Fixing Claims

by Lorys Charalambous, for LawAndTax-News.com, Cyprus

08 April 2003

The Cypriot Commission for the Protection of Competition (CPC) recently confirmed that it is investigating possible price-fixing by commercial banks in the jurisdiction.

This follows reports in the local media that the CPC had conducted raids on three leading banks - Laiki, the Bank of Cyprus, and Hellenic - in search of evidence to support the cartel allegations.

Although sources such as the Phileleftheros newspaper have suggested that the Commission has managed to gather substantial evidence to support its case, including proof of meetings between senior level banking officials, CPC chairman, Christodoulos Tselepos refused to be drawn on the details of the investigation, beyond suggesting that it may be completed within the year.

'The department will prepare a note which it will present to the Commission which will evaluate if and whether, at first sight, there are violations of the law on the protection of competition,' he announced.

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