Spain: CNMC seeks to prevent coordinated mortgage rise

Following the publication of the law that would force banks in Spain to take on the costs of the tax on Documented Legal Acts (IAJD), consumers and authorities have said they fear banks will raise mortgage prices in a coordinated manner, in a kind of unspoken pact that would eliminate competition.

The National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) has already announced that it will be watching the banks and their actions in the following days. “We are not going to allow coordinated behavior to take place, that is, agreements between the operators of that market nor collective recommendations,” said the president of the organization, José María Marín Quemada.

The Secretary of State for Finance, Inés María Bardón, said Monday afternoon, November 12, in the Senate that the Government will monitor “closely” these possible actions and that they will go to the CNMC “if necessary.”

“We are going to see to it that payment of the tax is not translated into abusive clauses or that it is passed on to consumer prices.”