October 26 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's anti-trust watchdog on Monday said it has fined Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria 5.6 million levs ($4.3 million/2.9 million euro) over a breach of competition regulations.
An anti-trust probe has determined that the bank offered free life insurance to mortgage borrowers between 2004 and 2007 although it had no real intention to provide continuous support for the service, the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) said in a statement.
The CPC said the fact that the bonus purchase was offered to customers almost until the end of 2007 and the lack of any explanation about the reasons for the bank's unilateral decision to terminate its obligations indicate that Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria used the offer solely as a buyer inducement, resulting in conduct that damaged consumer interests as well as the interest of its competitors on the financial services market.
The lender said it will issue a statement later on Monday.
Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria, part of Austrian banking group Raiffeisen Zentralbank Oesterreich, ranked as the country's fourth largest lender in terms of assets at the end of June.
(1 euro=1.95583 Bulgarian levs)
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