The

CNMC

has opened a sanctioning file against

Banco Sabadell

,

Banco Santander

,

Caixabank

and

Bankia

, for possible restrictive practices of competition in the commercialization of

ICO guarantee

lines

, authorized by the Government to provide credit and liquidity to companies and freelancers before the

Covid

crisis

.

The regulator informs in a statement that it investigates in particular "the link to different products that banks would have demanded as a condition for clients to be able to access the guarantee lines."

It also analyzes the use of credits as a mechanism to restructure pre-existing financial debts.

The behaviors analyzed originate from information that the

CNMC

received through the mailbox

covid.competencia@cnmc.es

, a channel that activated the commission during the

state of alarm

last year so that companies and citizens could inform the institution of possible practices anticompetitive that were taking place in the markets.

After the analysis carried out, the

CNMC

considers that "the actions of the investigated banks would deviate from the good faith required of the companies in their relationships with customers."

"Their practices could have altered the economic behavior of consumers who came to these entities to subscribe for

ICO

loans

. All of this could represent a distortion of free competition and would have affected the public interest," says the body chaired by

Cani Fernández

.

The initiation of the file takes place under the protection of article 3 of Law 15/2007, of July 3, on the Defense of Competition (LDC), in relation to article 4 of Law 3/1991, of January 10, of

Unfair Competition

.

A maximum period of 18 months is now open for the investigation of the file and for its resolution by the

CNMC

.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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