Banks and business services cases
Banks
Syndicated loans
The NMa carried out a study into syndicated loans, which involve financing agreements between one undertaking and two or more banks, thus spreading the size of the loan, as well as its risks. Undertakings that have to turn to syndicated loans when seeking substantial, complex, or high-risk loans need to apply to more banks than they had to before the financial crisis. There are few banks to choose from. In fact, sometimes there is no choice at all. This situation affects the undertakings’ bargaining positions. The reason for the reduced number of banks that offer syndicated loans is the decrease in the number of mergers and acquisitions that have taken place in the Dutch banking industry. In addition, foreign banks have withdrawn from the Dutch market. Finally, banks have become more prudent when it comes to giving individual undertakings substantial loans. The study did not find any violations of the Dutch Competition Act.
Interpay
In 2004, the NMa imposed a fine of more than EUR 30 million on payment service provider Interpay. Interpay was fined for charging banks excessively high tariffs which they had to pay for debit card transactions. In addition, the eight founders of Interpay were fined, too, because they had made sure that Interpay would be the only organization to be able to offer this type of debit card transactions. The banks in question have thus impeded competition. The fine on the banks was upheld, but the fine on Interpay was retracted.
Real estate
Foreclosure auctions
Homeowners that are unable to meet their mortgage payments to their banks may be forced to sell their homes. One way of selling homes is through a foreclosure auction. In 2009, the NMa suspected cartel agreements among real-estate traders. Agreements among traders exert downward pressure on prices of homes that are sold at foreclosure auctions. Homeowners consequently receive less from their sale, and the outstanding balances of their principals remain unnecessarily high. Around 65 NMa officials took part in the dawn raids that were conducted at real-estate traders.
As a result of the suspicions, the NMa has drawn up a consultation document, requesting everyone with knowledge on foreclosure auctions for comments. This call has resulted in a considerable amount of reactions.
