Thanks to Global Group Rules on Antitrust and Unfair Commercial Practices, UniCredit wants to:
• strengthen the effectiveness of any action/initiative at a Group level on Antitrust and Unfair Commercial
Practices
• enhance the transparency vis-à-vis stakeholders for an higher level of protection of both the competition and
the consumers
The Guidelines on Antitrust and Unfair Commercial Practices provide a set of high-level rules each Group
legal Entity has to comply with, in order to set minimum standards all over the Group. More in detail, these
Guidelines inform UniCredit legal Entities and employees’ behavior in the following matters:
• agreements (horizontal and vertical)
• abuse of dominant position
• concentrations (mergers and acquisitions)
• unfair commercial practices
More than half of the involved Group Legal Entites have approved and adopted the Guidelines on Antitrust and
Unfair Commercial Practices as of December 31, 2012.
Main legal actions regarding anti-competitive behavior, antitrust, monopoly practices and corrupt practices
COUNTRY DESCRIPTION OF MAIN LEGAL ACTIONS, 2012
In December 2012 the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato - AGCM (the Italian
Antitrust Authority) simultaneously requested information and commenced proceedings against
Italy
UniCredit SpA alleging unfair trade practices regarding advertising campaigns referred to a deposit
account (conto risparmio sicuro). The reply to the AGCM is on going.
In April 2012 the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection (SOKiK) issued the judicial
decision on recognizing two clauses of standard contract on construction and mortgage credit as
abusive and prohibited in relations with consumer. In July 2012 the above mentioned clauses were
Poland
entered into the Register of Prohibited Clauses (prohibiting their use in relations with consumers).
In August 2012 Bank Pekao SA lodged an appeal against sentence of the Court. As a result the 2
clauses were deleted from the Register.
Competition Council launched the proceedings against Western Union (WU), Tenfore (the company
which has a license to distribute WU service in Bosnia and Herzegovina), UniCredit Bank DD and
few other banks related to violation of anti-monopoly legislation. The reason for the enforcement
was the Council’s view that WU was trying to establish a dominant position due to the fact that
Bosnia and Herzegovina its contracts with the banks have a provision which does not allow the banks to carry out these
activities with other providers of foreign payment transaction services. UniCredit Bank DD (and
two other banks) have filed an appeal at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina against the Council’s
decision. The fine has not been paid yet and the banks requested the Court for a postponement of
the payment until the court proceedings are finalized.
Cartel investigation BankAdat: BankAdat is an interbank database, the Hungarian credit
institutions’ information system, based on voluntary data supply which contains the credit
institutions most important data. Hungarian Competition Authority started a cartel investigation
Hungary
against the Hungarian Banking Association and the International Training Centre for Bankers
and 38 Hungarian banks (including UniCredit Bank Hungary ZRT) participating in the system as
provider and user.
The local Antitrust authority applied an administrative fine to Public Joint Stock Company
Ukraine
Ukrsotsbank for improper submission of the reply upon its request.
UniCredit · 2012 Sustainability Report 9