How Intesa Sanpaolo, Unicredit, Iccrea and Banco Bpm will move on ATM commissions
The Bancomat spa project (controlled in particular by Intesa Sanpaolo, Unicredit, Iccrea, Mps and Banco Bpm) on interbank and withdrawal fees under review by the Antitrust. All the details
The Competition and Market Authority initiated an investigation against Bancomat SpA following a communication sent to Piazza Verdi by the consortium itself. Attention is focused on the project relating to the cash withdrawal service with ATM cards at the automatic bank branches, ie the ATMs, with agreements. Among the most important innovations are the abolition of the interchange fee and the payment of the commission applied to the withdrawal – by the consumer – directly to the credit institution where the ATM is located.
WHAT IS BANCOMAT SPA
Bancomat SpA is the company that has been managing the Bancomat and PagoBancomat withdrawal and payment circuits for over 30 years and the related cards used to make payments on Pos and ATMs, or ATMs. Its share capital is distributed among 125 subjects, the main ones being Intesa Sanpaolo (25%), Unicredit (approximately 19%), Iccrea Banca (approximately 11.5%), Banco Bpm (approximately 7.6%) and Monte dei Paschi (about 7.5%). As required by the statute, no shareholder holds control of the consortium, either individually or together.
SOME NUMBERS
Bancomat SpA has a market share of around 80% and is the absolute leader of the debit card payments market in Italy. In 2020, thanks to the 34 million cards in circulation, approximately 2.5 billion payment and withdrawal transactions were carried out for a value of over 252 billion on an annual basis. On the board, chaired by Franco Dalla Sega and vice-chaired by the general manager of ABI Giovanni Sabatini, sit the CEO Alessandro Zollo, three representatives of Intesa Sanpaolo, two of Unicredit, one of Credem, one of Iccrea, one of Banco Bpm, one from Ubi Banca, one from Montepaschi and one from Bper.
THE CURRENT SITUATION
At the moment, for each withdrawal operation, the issuing bank debits the sum withdrawn from the current account of its client and credits the same sum to the bank that owns the branch. The credit institution that owns the ATM obtains payment of the interchange fee from the issuing bank, currently equal to 50 cents. The amount was fixed by Bancomat and was subjected to the examination by the Antitrust with a provision of 30 September 2010.
THE NEW PROJECT
Going into the details of the new project , the Authority notes that Bancomat has communicated its intention to "introduce an alternative model" to the current one which "would provide for the replacement of interchange fees with the application to the cardholder of any commission defined in autonomous from each bank that owns the ATM and therefore provides the withdrawal service through its own equipment ".
Under the new rules, the commission would be made known to the cardholder before the withdrawal operation was authorized. Therefore, the new hypothesized model "would involve the elimination of the interchange fees currently associated with the ATM withdrawal". The modification of the remuneration model, the Agcm further informs, citing the consortium “would be justified by the increase in the costs incurred by the banks in the management of ATMs, linked to the technological evolution of such equipment and to the greater risks associated with more sophisticated fraudulent initiatives; costs that, in many cases, would be greater than the amount of the interchange fee. The new remuneration system, on the other hand, would incentivize greater investments by the owners of the ATMs in the related equipment, to the benefit of the consumer audience ”.
WHAT THE ANTITRUST WILL VALUE
So now the ball passes to the Competition and Market Authority. "On a preliminary basis – reads the preliminary investigation provision -, it should be noted that the circuit rules submitted by Bancomat to the Authority constitute, according to consolidated practice and national and European jurisprudence, an agreement between competing subjects, namely the banks and financial operators participating in the Bancomat Circuit ". For this reason, considering the "competitive repercussions connected to the centralized establishment of circuit rules", it is necessary to evaluate their compatibility with the competition legislation "also in consideration of the regulatory and technological evolution of the payments sector, which has also had effects with respect to withdrawals in circularity ".
In particular, according to the Agcm, "it is necessary to assess whether the new circuit rules can configure an agreement capable of restricting or distorting competition in the common market, pursuant to Article 101 of the TFEU (Functioning Treaty of the European Union, ed ). In fact, it is necessary to examine whether the coordination of the market behavior of the subjects participating in the Bancomat Consortium, which occurs due to the provisions of the new remuneration rules for circular withdrawals, entails a restriction of competition, also taking into account the impact on the competitive capacity of the various operators, also in consideration of the different extension of the ATM network ”.
Piazza Verdi specifies that, if the new circuit rules may cause competitive restrictions, it will be necessary to "focus on any efficiencies that would derive from their adoption and therefore a careful evaluation of the elements that will be provided in relation to the existence and nature of these efficiencies, the transmission to consumers of the related benefits, the indispensability of the new rules to achieve said efficiencies and the non-elimination of competition on the market ".
In the provision accompanying the launch, the Authority also highlights how the new circuit rules must be assessed pursuant to Article 101 of the European Union Functioning Treaty because "the concept of prejudice to intra-European trade must be interpreted taking into account the 'direct or indirect influence, real or potential, on trade flows between Member States ”. In fact, the project “appears potentially” suitable to “affect intra-European trade, as the new circuit rules affect the entire Italian territory and affect almost all the banks that provide banking services in Italy”.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/bancomat-istrutturoria-antitrust/ on Sun, 20 Dec 2020 15:19:46 +0000.