French banks fined for colluding on cheque commission charges

AFP - France's competition authority said Monday it had fined 11 big French banks 384 million euros (503 million dollars) for colluding to fix a commission they charged for handling cheques.
   
The banks in 2002 introduced a 4.3 euro cents commission per cheque, arguing that it was necessary to compensate for a loss of revenue which came after the cheque processing system was speeded up.
   
The banks argued that they were losing out on interest payments because they had to release the funds for the cheques sooner than under the previous processing system.
   
But the competition authority said in a statement that after conducting an inquiry it had concluded the commission charged was unjustified.
   
It noted that the banks stopped charging the commission in 2007 because of the "pressure of the inquiry."
   

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The BPCE banking group was hit with the biggest fine, of 90.9 million euros, followed by Credit Agricole, which was fined 82 million euros.
   
The other banks fined were Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, Credit Mutuel, Credit Industriel et Commercial (CIC), Credit du Nord, LCL, La Banque Postale, HSBC and the Bank of France, the central bank which supervises the lenders.
   
The banks have one month to appeal the decision.