Competition Commission Charges Wesbank & Toyota for Collusion
The Competition Commission has referred four motor vehicle finance institutions to the Competition Tribunal for prosecution on allegations of unfairly dividing the market by allocating customers or suppliers.
The finance institutions include FirstRand Bank Limited, Wesbank, and Toyota Financial Services South Africa Limited (TFS).
The Commission’s investigation revealed that Wesbank and TFS entered into an agreement to divide markets by allocating customers or suppliers for the provision of vehicle finance in contravention of the Competition Act.
The commission said the agreement further identifies that Wesbank is prohibited from financing the “new” Toyota Lexus and Hino vehicles and any “used” vehicles sold through any authorised Toyota dealership except McCarthy Group constitutes market division by allocating customers or suppliers.”
“This type of collusive conduct is harmful to the consumers as it deprives them of the benefits which arise from competition. Such agreements are inherently inimical to competition and the Commission has asked the Tribunal to fine the companies 10% of their turnover.”
The commission said FirstRand Bank Limited (FirstRand), through its WesBank, division and TFS are involved in the provision of vehicle finance services and are therefore supposed to compete.
