Banks sanctioned in the ROBOR case found out about the Competition Council’s decision as early as Friday, two days before it was publicly announced. The President of the institution, Bogdan Chirițoiu, stated that the authority chose to officially communicate over the weekend to avoid market disruption and to explain why fines of 3.73 billion lei were imposed.
In an interview given to G4Media, Chirițoiu claimed that the investigation identified contacts and coordination among banks in setting the ROBOR, but clarified that the institution did not calculate the concrete impact on the index or the potential harm suffered by clients.
"99% will appeal in court"
The head of the Competition Council explained that the banks' lawyers were immediately informed after the final decision was adopted. "We notified the banks' lawyers on Friday. The banks knew on Friday," Chirițoiu stated.
Chirițoiu's statements come after several banks claimed on Monday that they had not yet received the official decision and its reasoning, stating that they became aware of the authority's conclusions from the public statement and information in the press. Banca Transilvania even accused that details about the sanctions became public before sending an official written communication to the parties involved.
Chirițoiu explained that the institution chose to make the public announcement over the weekend to avoid market effects during trading sessions. "We wanted to announce it over the weekend to be outside trading hours. You don't make these kinds of announcements in the middle of the day," the head of the Competition Council specified.
He also mentioned that the reasoning for the decision will be ready in about a month, and then the banks will have two months to present compliance plans.
"Implementing means paying the fine, complying with the measures we will establish, and deciding whether to appeal in court or not. 99% will appeal in court," stated the President of the Competition Council.
What behavior the authority sanctioned
According to Chirițoiu, the sanctions do not target the ROBOR level itself, but how banks interacted in the process of setting the quotations.
"It's a set of elements that targeted contacts between banks, communications between them, methodology, the elements taken into account, how they react to different situations, so a certain coordination of behavior," he explained.
He added that the essential element considered by the authority is the possibility of coordination during the quoting window. "The most important thing is that they can align, they can coordinate during the 30-minute quoting period. Competition rules say you must have independent quotations, one bank shouldn't know what another is doing," Chirițoiu affirmed.
"They are not allowed to have any contact"
Asked if the investigation identified informal discussions between bank representatives, the head of the Competition Council said that the law prohibits any kind of contact during the fixing period. "Those involved in fixing should not have any contact during the fixing period. We're not talking about informal, formal, no contact," he stated.
Chirițoiu also confirmed the existence of meetings between competing banking institutions.
When asked if competing banks met and established common methodologies, he replied, "Yes, there were such meetings."
Competition Council does not estimate the harm
The President of the institution emphasized that the investigation did not aim to determine the exact financial impact on clients or whether ROBOR was influenced to a certain extent.
"The law doesn't require us to do that, and we also refrain from doing so. The courts (determine the harm - ed.)," he said when asked if the authority calculated the possible financial effects of the sanctioned behavior.
Chirițoiu added that individuals who feel harmed can seek compensation in court, but there are no relevant precedents in Romania.
"We have legislation on damages that says based on the Competition Council's decision, the harmed party can file a civil action and claim damages in court. We haven't used that decision so far, we don't have a precedent," he stated.
"Our process was fair"
Referring to the public dispute surrounding ROBOR, the head of the Competition Council said that the institution does not claim it can calculate how much the index was influenced.
"This issue of manipulating ROBOR has been highly politicized, both by PSD and AUR, many people feel they have been deceived. Our process was fair, what we don't say is how much. We don't do that, the law doesn't require it," Chirițoiu stated.
The Competition Council announced on Sunday the sanctioning of ten banks with total fines of 3.73 billion lei, accusing coordination of behavior in the ROBOR setting procedure. The banks rejected the accusations and announced they would challenge the decision in court.