French banks fined for price-fixing

France’s competition watchdog has fined a group of leading banks including BNP Paribas and Societe Generale €385m for illegally fixing the price for cheque-clearing services between 2002 and 2007.

The Autorite de la Concurrence competition watchdog said the 11 banks, which also included the Banque de France, Credit Agricole SA and HSBC, illegally instituted a 4.3-cent-per-cheque fee following the switch to digital interbank processing system in 2002.