OREANDA-NEWS. December 07, 2009. The FAS Russia's Expert Council for Protection of Competition on Financial Markets (the Banking Services section) met, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The meeting was joined by representatives of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, the Association of Russian Banks, International Confederation of Consumer Societies, as well as credit organizations, VISA payment system and "AShAN" retail chain.

First the Council considered whether conditions of the cooperation agreement between "AShAN" Ltd. and "CreditEuropeBank" CJSC for issuing co-branding bank cards complied with antimonopoly requirements. According to the agreement, only the cards issues by "CreditEuropeBank" CJSC should be accepted for payment in "AShAN" stores.

In course of the discussion it was pointed out that the buyers, that are also card holders, in particular, VISA card issued by other banks, cannot pay with their card in the stores of "AShAN" retail chain. At the same time, FAS Russia has not received any complaints from credit organizations regarding conditions of such cooperation, as well as any evidence that "AShAN" Ltd. refused to use acquiring services of other banks.

Representatives of "AShAN" Ltd. and "CreditEuropeBank" CJSC pointed out that conditions of their cooperation are not exclusive and in the near future the retail chain is planning to publish the requirements under which "AShAN" Ltd. concludes acquiring contracts similar to the contract "CreditEuropeBank" CJSC. This will ensure possibility to accept bank cards issued by other credit organizations.

Members of the Expert Council suggested that "AShAN" Ltd. should review the above requirements due to an unclear criterion "stable financial situation", as well as discriminatory nature of the requirement to have branches in majority of constituent territories of the Russian Federation.

Summing up the discussion, the Council concluded that at present cooperation between "CreditEuropeBank" CJSC for issuing bank cards doe not contradict the antimonopoly legislation. However, if the retail chain sets unclear and discriminatory requirements to credit organizations and FAS Russia receives complaints from the banks, the antimonopoly authority will reconsider the conditions of cooperation between the bank and the retail chain.

Also members of the Expert Council stated their position with regard to permissibility of agreements between banks and other economic entities about discounts for goods and services. The Council determined the conditions when such agreements must be pronounced as restricting competition.

Upon discussing the problem, the Council decided to form a Working Group, that could comprise any interested person and whose goal would be to develop criteria for permissibility of discount agreements. Recommendations of the Working Group will be discussed by the Expert Council at the meeting, tentatively scheduled for January 2010.

Reference:
To be included in the Discount Working Group, interested persons should send a request to belyaeva@fas.gov.ru, giving their name (first, last, patronymic), position, contract telephone number and the e-mail address. The date and time of the first session of the Working Group will be fixed by 4th December 2009.