Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court refused to meet the demands of AlfaStrakhovaniye and declare the decision of Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service invalid, the spokesperson for the Service reports.

The FAS’s Sverdlovsk Region division ruled on August 18, 2009 that Bank24.ru and three insurers, Uveren.ru, Guta-Strakhovaniye, and AlfaStrakhovaniye, violated Article 11 (part 1, paragraph 5) of the Competition Protection Act. The companies were found guilty of an administrative offense as stated in Article 14.31 of the Administrative Offense Code.

The division reports the violation consisted in colluding in terms of loan offers. This involved Bank24.ru’s car loans, universal loans, and emergency needs loans, all of which made it obligatory for the borrowing parties to buy life insurance and to sign a general cooperation agreement that might infringe upon the borrowers some disadvantageous terms that would be irrelevant to the loan itself. Namely, there was a proviso regarding life and health insurance at the borrowing party’s own expense, with the bank as the beneficiary.

Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service stated that Bank24.ru must stop violating the antimonopoly legislation and come up with new loan terms and agreements. The division declared that life insurance must be optional and not obligatory.