The Commission for the Protection of Competition (hereafter the “Commission”) at its meeting held on 30/10/2023, examined the notification of a concentration concerning the acquisition of share capital of Hellenic Bank Public Company Limited (hereafter the “Hellenic Bank”) by Eurobank S.A. (hereafter the “Eurobank”).
The Commission, during its aforementioned meeting, having taken into consideration the written report of its Service, concluded that the above notified concentration falls within the provisions of the Control of Concentrations between Undertakings Law of 2014, Law no. 83(I)/2014 (hereafter the «Law»), and raises doubts as to its compatibility with the functioning of competition in the market.
Taking into account all the evidence brought before the Commission, from the analysis and assessment of the factors that make up the intended concentration so far, it appeared that the concentration in question raises doubts as to its compatibility with the operation of competition in the market for the provision of deposit services and in the market for the provision of lending services.
Particularly:
i) The notified concentration may have non-coordinated effects on competition in relation to the affected markets for the provision of lending services and the provision of deposit services, resulting from the horizontal relationship of the participating undertakings. This possibility arises from the high market shares of the participating undertakings, the degree of concentration in these markets, the fact that the parties concerned may be close competitors, the doubt that there will still be a possibility of switching suppliers in the coming years and the possibility of other banking institutions not being able to increase their services. The Commission concluded that all the above require further investigation due to the nature and facts of the proposed transaction.
ii) The notified concentration may lead to coordinated effects in relation to the horizontal overlap of the participating undertakings in the affected markets for the provision of lending services and the provision of deposit services. The specific possibility arises from the homogeneity of the products, the symmetry of the market shares of the first and second largest banks in the market, the degree of transparency in the banking sector, mainly in retail banking, as well as the potential inability of banking institutions that will not participate in a possible coordination to react. Therefore, this possibility should be further investigated.
The Commission, on the basis of all the evidence before it to date, unanimously concluded that there is a need to fully investigate the concentration in question. In accordance with the provisions of the Law, the Commission must notify its decision within four (4) months from the date on which all the necessary information was submitted to the Service in order to comply with the requirements of Annex III of the Law, or three (3) months from the date of payment of the full investigation fee.
It is noted that in the context of full investigation of the concentration and in accordance with article 26 of the Law, persons who may be directly affected by the Commission’s decision, but are not participating in the concertation, are provided with the opportunity to submit their views, in such manner and time so as not to violate the relevant timeframes prescribed by the Law.
COMMISSION FOR THE PROTECTION OF COMPETITION
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