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Lithuania: Competition watchdog starts inquiry into Swedbank unit

 |  January 23, 2017

Lithuania’s competition watchdog said it had started an inquiry in December into whether its largest retail bank Swedbank had engaged in anti-competitive practices.

The Competition Council said on its website it was investigating whether the bank, wholly owned by the Swedish banking group with the same name, had contravened competition law with regards to dominant market positions.

“The Competition Council informed Swedbank that they began the inquiry and asked for information needed for the inquiry. The bank is currently preparing the information and will present it to the council in near future,” Saulius Abraskevicius, spokesman for Swedbank in Lithuania, told Reuters.

The lender could face fines of up to 10 percent of its annual revenues if the Competition Council finds it contravened the law, but an investigation could take several years, the Competition Council’s spokeswoman said.

Full Content: Reuters

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