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Month: August 2016

Banks denied interim authorisation for cartel conduct ?>

Banks denied interim authorisation for cartel conduct

In an earlier post I noted that that several Australian banks had applied to the ACCC for authorisation to collectively bargain ‘with providers of third-party mobile wallet services [including Apple] on conditions relating to competition, best practice standards, and efficiency and transparency.’ Authorisation and interim authorisation Authorisation may be granted for cartel conduct and other prohibited anti-competitive conduct on public benefit grounds.  Applications typically take up to six months, which allows the ACCC to undertake detailed market studies and full consideration of potential competitive detriment…

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Apple versus the banks ?>

Apple versus the banks

Several Australian banks, including three out of the ‘big four’ banks, want the ACCC to give them the green light to engage in hard-core cartel conduct. The Banks’ submission On 26 July Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, the Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac sought authorisation to engage in collective negotiation with providers of third party mobile wallet services (essentially Apple) and to collectively boycott third-party providers during the course of collective negotiations.  Apple has so far locked out third-party providers, although ANZ (the…

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