Leading Turkish banks may have to pay fine for interest fixing
It has been reported that 12 leading local banks are under investigation for having fixed interest rates and may have to pay a substantial amount of monetary fine for it.
The report says it has been concluded by the Turkey’s Competition Board that 12 banks in the country agreed to determine interest rates.
If this possibility comes to realize upon completion of investigation, said banks may have to face a heavy monetary penalty of billions of liras.
It is known that the banks under investigation dominate nearly the entire sector and such an action would mean a heavy blow to the Turkish banking sector.
It is also a known fact that Turkish banking sector is frequently criticized for not performing to the standards of their competitiors in Europe and are extremely “profit” oriented.
According to the reports the banks in question are alleged to have interest rates on many loan types, including credit cards. As understood from the report, concerned investigation covers big companies such as Akbank, Finansbank, HSBC Bank, Garanti Bank, İşbank, Yapı Kredi Bank and more.
Nurettin Kaldırımcı (the Competition Board’s President) is reported to comment on the issue as follows;
“Fines may be imposed or not imposed. Above all, it is not possible to say anything about the amount of the fine. If the penalty amount is not stated in official reports, then media reports are speculative. We had said the investigation would be completed in January at the earliest. But now it is not likely to be finalized before February or March”.
03.11.2012
SOURCE: MEDIA & BTT
