Decision of the Competition Council of the Hungarian Competition Authority (Gazdasági Versenyhivatal - GVH) Vj-56/2006: OTP Bank

The Competition Council of the Hungarian Competition Authority (Gazdasági Versenyhivatal - GVH) established in its decision, issued on 3 October 2006, that OTP Bank, the largest commercial bank in Hungary, infringed the provisions on the prohibition of unfair manipulation of consumer choice of the Hungarian Competition Act.

In the competition supervision proceedings the Competition Council of the GVH concluded that the advertisements of OTP Bank were misleading consumers because it stated that the credit card owner does not have to pay interest during a certain period when using his/her OTP Bank credit card, although this was not true, as this possibility was subject to certain conditions (i.e. the credit card owner had to have no accounts payable).

The Competition Council of the GVH imposed a fine of HUF 100 million (approx. EUR 357.000) on OTP Bank for its unlawful behaviour.

Budapest, 3 October, 2006

Hungarian Competition Authority
Communication Group

Further information:
Mihálovits András
Hungarian Competition Authority
1054 Budapest, V., Alkotmány u.5.
1245 Budapest, 5. Pf. 1036
tel: (+36-1) 472-8985
email: Mihalovits.Andras@gvh.hu
http://www.gvh.hu