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Banks in dilemma: Fined by the Competition or the Data Protection Commissioner?

2025-04-25 07:24:00, Ekonomi CNA

Commercial banks are caught in the middle of an unprecedented legal conflict between the Competition Authority and the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection.

In March of this year, the Competition Authority opened an in-depth investigation into commercial banks in the credit life insurance market. As part of the investigation, the Competition Authority has requested information from the banks on all credit life insurance contracts concluded since the beginning of 2022. The information also includes customer profiles and their contact numbers.

In response to this request, the banks, through their Association, have requested a legal interpretation from the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection, as to whether the data in question can be made available to the Competition Authority.

Sources from the banking sector report that, in response to this request, the Commissioner stated that personal data should not be forwarded to the Competition Authority and that in the information sent, this data should be anonymized or deleted.

The banks have forwarded the Commissioner's position to the Competition Authority, but this institution has repeated the request for the requested information to be made available, warning the banks that, otherwise, they may be sanctioned with a fine of 1% of their annual turnover, as provided for in the Law "On the Protection of Competition".

The Competition Authority assesses that the law obliges enterprises to provide all required information and that citizens' personal data are not exempt from this obligation.

The obligation of entities to provide information is provided for in Article 33 of the Law "On the Protection of Competition", which stipulates that "at any time, the Authority, by means of a request from the secretariat or the commission, may request third parties, undertakings or groups of undertakings, to provide all information necessary for the implementation of this law, including that which contains trade secrets".

Although the law does not explicitly mention personal data, the Competition Authority considers that they are not exempt from the obligation to provide information and in this case considers them necessary for conducting the investigation.

The initial deadline for submitting the information was April 24, while in the latest communication, the Competition Authority has given banks another six days, until April 30, to submit the information, or else they may face sanctions.

Although the two institutions have been informed of their respective positions, they have not yet undertaken any communication with each other. In the written communication with the Commissioner, the Association of Banks has also included the Competition Authority as a party for information. While the Commissioner, in his response, addressed only the Association and did not include the Competition Authority in the correspondence.

Banks are placed in a paradoxical situation. If they refuse to provide the requested information, they risk being fined by the Competition Authority.

If they provide the requested information, they risk being fined by the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection.

The new law on personal data protection, which reflects the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), provides for fines that can reach up to 20 million euros.

Commercial banks are considering a coordinated response in this case and one of the alternatives is to challenge the Competition Authority's order in the Administrative Court./ Monitor.al