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Injured by Banks Association Delays Blockade of Banks in Bratislava
Monday 24 May 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, May 24 (TASR) - A civil association called Injured by Banks has decided to postpone its planned blockade of the headquarters of Vseobecna uverova banka (VUB), Slovenska sporitelna (SLSP) and Ceskoslovenska obchodna banka (CSOB) in Bratislava that was supposed to take place on Monday, association spokesman Andrej Kulaviak said on the same day.
Injured by Banks intended to use the protest to point to the "still unmet claim of members of the civil association for compensation for the (banks's) illegal conduct," said Kulaviak.
The blockade was delayed after the association made an agreement with the European Consumers' Association on co-ordinating further steps. "The association has taken over our legal representation, and plans to address the parent companies of the aforementioned banks to set things straight," said Kulaviak.
Kulaviak noted that VUB, SLSP and CSOB violated the law on creating cartels when they cancelled the accounts of a company called Akcenta CZ. "The Anti-monopoly Office (PMU) has ruled that it was a blatant bank cartel. We feel damaged by the banks's conduct, as we are still unable to carry out more advantageous operations in foreign currencies, due to which our clients have been losing significant amounts of money," said Kulaviak.
"The forbidden behaviour consisted in an agreement on joint procedures by [VUB, SLSP and CSOB] on the cashless operations market in foreign currencies ... Representatives of VUB, SLSP and CSOB agreed to terminate contracts on current accounts that had been opened in those banks by Akcenta CZ, and that current accounts wouldn't be renewed again in the future," said PMU.
Akcenta CZ last year stated that the damage that the company suffered amounts to €30 million for each bank. Meanwhile, PMU ruled that the highest fine should be paid by VUB - €3.81 million, followed by SLSP - €3.197 million, and CSOB - €3.183 million.
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