According to information from Le Parisien, fines totaling more than 2.8 million euros were imposed on six French banks as part of the repression of fraud for the invoicing of excessive fees during payments by bank cards.
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These fines were imposed by the Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) on BNP Paribas (€ 1.494 million fine), Banque Postale (€ 1.168 million), the Banque Populaire du Grand Ouest (74,446 euros), the Afone bank (58,200 euros), the Regional Bank Crédit Agricole Normandie (48,276 euros) and the Federal Caisse du Crédit Mutuel Maine Anjou Basse-Normandie (35,600 euros).
Three types of infringement were identified during checks carried out in 2018 by the DGCCRF, details Le Parisien online.
The latter pinpointed the "
lack of price transparency
" with regard to merchant customers of banks whose contracts only indicate "
a global commission which, for want of being detailed, does not allow competition with other players. banking
”.
Regarding consumer customers, "
banks are not respecting their obligation to provide visually identifiable debit and / or credit payment cards
".
In addition, so-called dual payment cards, "
offering the choice between immediate debit or revolving credit payment when settling, are subject to excessive interchange fees
".
The interchange commission is paid by the merchant's bank to that of the consumer during a bank card transaction.
"
Since 2015, the maximum ceiling of this interchange fee has been regulated at European level in order to avoid any abuse on the part of the banks
", writes the newspaper, specifying that the maximum commission has been set at 0.2% for cards at debit and at 0.3% for those on credit.
But, according to the newspaper, during the checks of 2018, “
the authority noticed that all the banks checked charge 0.3% commission on too many of these dual cards, regardless of the type of settlement chosen by the consumer
”.
Le Parisien
also specifies that the Banque Postale "
takes note of the decision of the DGCCRF relating to the facts noted in 2018. Measures are taken to comply with the breaches noted
", she specifies, insisting that this "
sanction concerns only dual cards
".
However, BNP Paribas "
contests the conclusions of the DGCCRF investigation and lodged an appeal before the Administrative Court of Paris
".
