Romania's central bank has written to the national Competition Council seeking detailed clarification about the authority's antitrust findings involving ten banks, the central bank said in an e-mailed statement on Thursday through spokesman Dan Suciu.
The central bank asked the competition regulator to identify the precise rules the banks are alleged to have violated that led to record fines for suspected collusion in setting money market rates. In its communication, the central bank also sought clarification of remarks by the council's leader, who suggested that "too much transparency" in trading could harm the market.
Reacting to that comment, Suciu said: "One could paradoxically interpret that too much information and too much transparency are considered elements that determine anti-competitive behavior. In fact, it's the opposite that damages competition." The bank framed its request for explanations as necessary to resolve ambiguity introduced by public statements.
On the issue of recent money-market rate movements, the central bank disputed the notion that banks were chiefly to blame for the sharp rise. The bank said the roughly 700 basis point increase in money-market rates over the past two years "should not be blamed on banks." Instead, the rise was due, the bank said, "to a complex situation generating global inflation which in turn lead to interest rate increases" across markets, according to Suciu.
The central bank's clarification request follows a series of public remarks that it said have created confusion and raised concerns about possible risks to Romania's financial stability. The letter to the Competition Council aims to obtain specific information on both the legal basis for the alleged violations and the interpretation of comments about market transparency so that the central bank can better assess potential implications.
No additional details on the content of the Competition Council's findings or on any prospective actions by either institution were provided in the statement.
Contextual note: The central bank's move is focused on securing clearer explanations from the competition authority; the statement emphasizes that broader inflation-driven interest rate dynamics, rather than bank conduct, explain recent money-market rate increases.