'A certain degree of cooperation between banks and insurers is not illegal, yet there is a borderline that one has to be aware of. For one, collusions aimed at setting fixed prices are prohibited by the competition protection law,’ Deputy Head of Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region Sergey Volkov said to UrBC.

Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region filed lawsuits against Severnaya Kazna and UralTransBank, claiming that these banks had made collusive agreements with the insurance companies in order to be able to impose higher-than-the-market-average insurance fees for mortgages and car loans. The Service maintains the banks thus violated Article 11 of the competition protection law.

'Such actions deprive customers of choice and lead to emergence of monopolies, which is something we cannot let happen,’ Mr. Volkov said.