Financial Conduct Authority issues statement of
objections in money transfer price fixing case
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued its second
known statement of objections alleging that three international money transfer
service providers violated competition law when they colluded to set the rates
they charged Scottish customers for wiring funds to Pakistan.
A statement of objections gives firms notice that the FCA considers
that they have infringed competition law and the opportunity to respond by
making written and oral representations.
The FCA’s statement of objections was addressed to the
Glasgow branches of Dollar East, Hafiz Bros Travel & Money Transfer and LCC
Trans-Sending and accused the companies of price fixing for the conversion of
pounds to Pakistani rupees between February and May 2017.
The FCA further maintains that the companies conspired to fix
the flat rate transaction fee they charged customers for sending money to Pakistan
through the service operated by LCC Trans-Sending’s parent company, Small World
Financial Services Group.
Since 1 April 2015, the FCA has had concurrent competition
law enforcement powers, including powers under the Competition Act 1998 and the
Enterprise Act 2002 in relation to the provision of financial services.
The FCA has launched five investigations into potential competition
law breaches since it gained concurrent competition powers. However, the FCA has only ever proceeded to
the statement of objections state in one other case that concluded with fines
in 2019.
The FCA notes that the alleged infringements meant that customers
in Glasgow may have been overcharged for the relevant transactions. It may be that the FCA is using a relatively localised
case to reinforce the message that competition law applies across and within
the UK.
https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-issues-statement-objections-3-money-transfer-firms#:~:text=A%20statement%20of%20objections%20gives,the%20law%20has%20been%20broken
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