Bancomat, skips the 1.5 euro commission for all operations: no from the Antitrust – Corriere.it

Skip the Bancomat spa project which would have led to a revolution in commissions paid for cash withdrawals, which proposed, among other things, a ceiling of 1.5 euros but which would have been paid for all operations. The Antitrust has rejected the new remuneration model for those who manage ATMs with Bancomat circuit cards, because – reads the note – it would constitute a restriction of competition to the detriment of consumers. This was communicated by the Competition and Market Guarantor Authority after closing the investigation relating to the modification project presented by the Bancomat spa consortium.

Increased average commission

At the end of an articulated investigation, the Authority found that the new project constitutes a restriction of competition as it establishes a series of common rules which determine effects of an anti-competitive nature consisting in the significant increase in the average withdrawal commissions in circulation for users by participating banks; in the creation of obstacles for competition between banks in the provision of services to customers, since for these there will be no possibility of influencing a competitive variable (namely the possibility of determining the withdrawal commission in circulation and the possibility of do not make the customer pay it); in increasing the incentives for participating banks to collude. These are fees applied to withdrawals at ATMs and not the fees paid by merchants when paying with ATM or credit card, which we are talking about these days.

The current model

According to the current remuneration regime, recalls the Authority, the bank that issued the card used for withdrawal pays an interchange fee to the institution that owns the branch where the withdrawals take place and can ask its customer for a commission. The project presented by Bancomat SpA, on the other hand, envisages a new model for which the bank from which the withdrawal is made requests a commission directly from the cardholder. In a nutshell, the proposal envisaged making everyone pay for these withdrawal operations where a commission of up to a maximum of 1.5 euros is not charged.

The number of ATMs

Among the reasons that have not been taken as valid to support the proposal there is also that the presence has not been demonstrated – reports the Antutrust – of a direct relationship between the decrease in the ATM network (ie the number of branches, ed) e the current remuneration model and, therefore, any efficiencies that would have resulted in this sense from the introduction of the new model. In fact, on the basis of the elements that emerged during the preliminary investigation, the Authority found that the main causes of the downsizing of the ATM network are due to an overall evolution of the market, characterized by various factors. Among these, the rationalization of the network as a result of banking concentrations, corporate decisions of credit institutions and also optimization logics that may not depend on mere withdrawals in circulation.