According to Le Parisien newspaper, six French banks have been fined a total of 2.8 million euros by the Direction Générale de la Concurrence, de la Consommation et de la Répression des Fraudes (DGCCRF). The banks are alleged to have charged their customers excessive fees for credit card payments.
Three types of offence
Financial sanctions have been imposed on six French banks:
- Caisse fédérale du Crédit Mutuel Maine Anjou Basse-Normandie (35,600 euros),
- Afone bank (58,200 euros),
- Banque Populaire Grand Ouest (74,446 euros),
- Banque Postale (1.168 million euros),
- BNP Paribas (1.494 million euros).
There are three types of infringements detected by the DGCCRF:
- a lack of pricing transparency for bank business customers, preventing competition between different banking services;
- non-compliance with the obligation to provide banks' retail customers with "visually identifiable" credit and/or debit payment cards;
- the setting of excessive interchange fees for "dual" payment cards, i.e. those allowing a choice between revolving credit or immediate debit payment upon settlement. However, since 2015, the ceiling for this interchange fee has been framed at European level to prevent abuse by banks. It is set at 0.2% for debit cards and 0.3% for credit cards, according to information from Le Parisien newspaper.
BNP Paribas challenges DGCCRF ruling
BNP Paribas, which was ordered to pay a fine of nearly 1.5 million euros, contested the DGCCRF's decision and lodged an appeal with the administrative court.
For its part, Banque Postale says it has taken note of the administration's decision reporting the facts observed in 2018. "Steps are being taken to bring itself into compliance with the breaches observed", it states.
Other abuses denounced by the France Conso Banque association
While the DGCCRF has just fined six French banks a total of 2.8 million euros for charging excessive fees for card payments, consumer association France Conso Banque is denouncing other abuses that are increasingly difficult to trace.
"There are "known" banking practices, such as interchange fees on cheques, which were the subject of a complaint by the Fédération du Commerce et de la Distribution in 2009, and "others that are unknown and for which there is reasonable doubt", reports Michel Guillaud, president of the association, to Capital, who cites, in particular, the intervention fee of up to 8 euros, or withdrawal fees at other banks' ATMs of between 0.90 and 1 euro. These bad banking practices are said to have multiplied since the 2008 crisis.