Inspectors affiliated with Greece’s competition commission on Thursday undertook an unprecedented surprise audit at the headquarters of all four of the country’s systemic banks, with reports citing the confiscation of documents, hard drives and other data.
The same reports pointed to the prospect of a probe on whether announced hikes in fees tacked on to a variety of routine bank transactions – such as printing a deposit’s balance from an ATM – were coordinated and agreed to by the banks, i.e. in a cartel-like manner.
Following pressure by the government, the banks suspended from most of the announced fee hikes, although the prospect has not been ruled out for the near future.
