February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The unprecedented move by the Office of Fair Trading follows the successful submission of a “super-complaint” by the magazine “Which?” and the Northern Ireland Consumer Council.
The banks are the Bank of Ireland, First Trust Bank, the Northern Bank and the Ulster Bank. All four deny overcharging or restrictive business practices and have welcomed the inquiry.
Consumer Council chief executive, Eleanor Gill, said the banks had done little or nothing to avoid being in the dock. “The big four will now be forced to change,” she said.
“This referral brings us one step closer to a fair deal for the hundreds of thousands of local people who bank with the big four. They must now remove all charges and give consumers a fair return on their hard-earned money.”
Once a reference has been made to the Competition Commission, it can take statements from any witnesses, including third parties. Requests for statements are compulsory and an organization must respond.
The commission can obtain information that the Office of Fair Trading does not have power to demand in the course of its study. It can also force companies to change the structure of the market in which they operate if it feels competition is being hindered.
Office of Fair Trading chairman, Sir John Vickers said: “Our analysis of the evidence presented to date gives us reasonable grounds to suspect that there are features of this market which restrict competition”.
“It is now for the Competition Commission to undertake a thorough investigation of the market and, if necessary, to put appropriate remedies in place,” he said after the move, which was welcomed by all the North’s main political parties.
Sinn F