J. Sroczyński for WuW No. 9/2014 – OCCP’s approval for the establishment of a joint venture by six banks

The OCCP has agreed to an acquisition by Jeronimo Martins Polska of 11 shops from Marcpol. Both companies are retailers of FMCG goods, operating networks of grocery shops across the country. The OCCP has found that the concentration will not lead to a significant limitation of competition even in the narrow, local markets. The OCCP has defined such local markets of the areas reachable from a given location in 10 to 15 minutes’ drive by car. The OCCP has for the first time adhered to the asymmetric definition of competition in the HSD sector, which comprises hypermarkets, supermarkets and discount shops. The OCCP stated that while discount shops are under significant competitive pressure from hypermarkets and supermarkets, for those two categories discounts do not present meaningful competition.

The OCCP has approved the creation by six banks (PKO BP, Alior Bank, Bank Millenium, Bank Zachodni WBK, mBank and ING Bank Śląski) of a joint venture called Polski Standard Płatności Sp. z o.o. (PSP, Polish Payment Standard). The joint venture will provide services of certification of mobile applications, providing one-time codes, pre-authorization and authorization of mobile payments in points of sale, ATMs and e-commerce, and mobile peer-to-peer (P2P) payments. PSP is confined to mobile payments and will not provide card payment services. According to the OCCP, the market of mobile payment services will remain competitive even if PSP becomes dominant, as some competitors have warned might be the case. Mobile payments operators raised competition concerns, which the OCCP did not share, taking into account that other entities can join the new system. In the approval process, the OCCP was consulting other banks and mobile payments operators, as well as the Financial Supervision Authority and the National Bank of Poland.

J. Sroczyński, Wirtschaft und Wettbewerb. Developments in national competition law, No. 9/2014.