OREANDA-NEWS. On July 29, 2008 the 18th Arbitration Appeal Court revoke the judgment of the Court of First Instance, confirming validity of the decision adopted by the Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in the Chelyabinsk region (OFAS Russia) with regard to "UniCreditBank" CJSC and 15 insurance companies, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

In December 2007, Chelyabinsk OFAS Russia discovered concerted actions between "International Moscow Bank" CJSC (currently "UniCreditBank" CJSC) and 15 insurance companies - "Ingosstrakh" Open Joint-Stock Insurance Company, "AlphaStrakhovaniе" OJSC, "AIG Insurance and Reinsurance Company" CJSC, "Rossia" Open Joint-Stock Insurance Company, "Soglasie" Insurance Company" Ltd., "Surgutneftegaz" Insurance Association" Ltd., "ROSNO" OJSC, "Zurich-Rus" Insurance Company" OJSC, "Progress-Garant" Insurance Company" OJSC, "NASTA" Insurance Company" Ltd., "Military Insurance Company" OJSC, "Renaissance Insurance Group" Ltd., "Rosgosstrakh -Ural" Ltd., ОСАО "RESO-Garantia" Open Joint-Stock Insurance Company and "SOGAZ" OJSC, which were in breach of Part 2 Article 10 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition", and issued a determination to eliminate the violations.

The bank and the insurance companies violated the law because their loan programmes: "Nissan Finace" and "Renault Credit": "Standard"; "Nissan Finace" and "Renault Credit": "Down Payment 0%"; and "Nissan Finace" and "Renault Credit": "Simplified package of documents" had a mandatory condition for loan granting that collaterals (motor vehicles bought on credit) must be insured continually only in one of the insurance organizations suggested by the bank.

The decision adopted by Chelyabinsk OFAS Russia was appealed to the Chelyabinsk Regional Arbitration Court, which did not support the position of the antimonopoly office and overruled its decision and determination.

The Arbitration Appeal Court, however, confirmed the rightness of Chelyabinsk OFAS Russia.