Raiffeisen Bank Romania SA will challenge the Competition Council’s fine in court regarding the ROBOR-setting procedure, according to a press release from the bank sent to AGERPRES.

"We will challenge the decision in court to demonstrate the correctness of our conduct, and we are confident that the courts will confirm the legality and responsibility of our actions," the source stated.

Raiffeisen Bank’s management disagrees with the Competition Council’s conclusions and maintains its position that they do not reflect the realities of the interbank market and do not take into account the legal framework in force, which the banks participating in the fixing system were required to comply with.

"ROBOR is a strictly regulated mechanism, within which participating banks operate exclusively based on clear technical rules, supervised by the competent authorities. We note that the investigation revealed no evidence of an agreement among banks to set ROBOR rates. The only issue raised concerns the transparency of these rates, which is an intrinsic feature of the fixing system and by no means a choice made by the participating banks," the statement further notes.

The Competition Council has fined ten banks a total of 3.73 billion lei for violating competition rules, namely the Competition Law and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, by coordinating their behavior in the ROBOR-setting process.

The competition authority notes that, following the investigation, it found that the banks participating in the ROBOR-setting process coordinated their conduct through an exchange of confidential and strategic information, particularly regarding price, concerning the ROBOR level during the fixing procedure. The independence of quotes during the fixing period is important, all the more so for maturities where the volume of actual transactions is low (3, 6, 12 months), as the average of these transactions cannot be used as a relevant indicator. The result of the fixing procedure is used to calculate interest rates for certain loans. Thus, a high level of this index may be favorable to lenders, but it directly affects consumers and other borrowers whose contracts are linked to ROBOR, the CC explained.

Raiffeisen Bank Romania SA was fined 442.49 million lei.

ROBOR is the interbank money market reference rate that influences the calculation of interest rates for loans granted to legal entities (including state entities, such as local public authorities), as well as the calculation of interest rates for individuals who took out loans prior to 2019 and did not apply to switch to IRCC.

The Competition Council’s decisions are enforceable, and the fines imposed constitute revenue for the state budget.

AGERPRES