ZCZC
BCN-42
ITALY-AUTOMOBILE-FINE-BANKING
Italy fines car finance cartel 678 mn euros
MILAN, Jan 9, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Italy’s anti-trust authority said Wednesday
it has fined a swathe of top car makers, including BMW, Fiat-Chrysler, Ford
and Toyota, 678 million euros ($776 million) for operating a financing
cartel.
The car manufacturers and their respective banks which offer financing to
customers purchasing vehicles were found guilty of running a cartel from 2003
to 2017, the AGCM competition authority said in a statement.
Cartel members also included General Motors, PSA (Peugeot-Citroen) finance
institutions, Renault, Volkswagen, Santander Consumer Bank, and the Assofin
and Assilea trade associations.
They “put in place an anti-competition agreement, between 2003 and 2017, to
alter the competitive dynamics in the market of car sales… through
financing,” it said.
The AGCM noted “a single, complex and continuous agreement concerning the
exchange of sensitive information on quantities and prices.”
Germany’s Daimler and its Mercedes Benz Financial Services Italia unit
reported the cartel, of which it was a member, and therefore received “total
immunity” in return, the authority said.
“Considering the gravity and duration of the infringement” the authority
imposed a total fine of 678 million euros.
BSS/AFP/HR/1457