'The Service has gathered data on the existing agreements between banks and insurers in order to detect instances of violating the antimonopoly legislation. Our division received two cases to work on; these involve UralTransBank and Bank Severnaya Kazna. Both of them are now being processed,’ Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region division of Federal Antimonopoly Service Sergey Volkov said to UrBC.

'We found the agreement signed by UralTransBank and Military Insurance Company particularly interesting, as the paper says nothing about the tariffs, let alone the fact that they are bound to rise. This means a collusion has taken place. We sent a query to the bank and received a letter stating that the agreement was cancelled the day after it had been signed,’ Mr. Volkov said.

'Still, even if there is no written agreement, it can still exist even in the form of a promise. Unfortunately, the Service is not vested with as much authority as its Western counterparts, so we can’t afford to collect some really strong evidence. Yet the major proof of the existence of a collusion is its consequences and the customers’ complaints,’ he added.

'The first court hearing of Severnaya Kazna’s case has been scheduled for Novvember 19, 2007,’ Mr. Volkov noted.