Top Norway banks may have breached competition rule -watchdog ESA

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OSLO, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 26 (Reuters) - Norway's two largest banks and other members of the financial industry may have illegally blocked a Swedish company from establishing an online payment system, the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) said on Wednesday.

The competition watchdog has opened proceedings against DNB (Stockholm: 1026758.ST - news) , Nordea, lobby group Finance Norway and payments facilitator BankID, as well as Bits (BSE: 526709.BO - news) , a related organisation to Finance Norway, it said in a statement.

ESA said it received a complaint last year from Sweden's Trustly regarding the alleged blocking of its ability to provide its service in Norway.

"ESA will investigate whether these members of the Norwegian banking community engaged in agreements, decisions or concerted practices aimed at blocking a new market entrant from providing a new e-payments service in Norway," it said.

"The decision to open proceedings does not signify that ESA has made a finding of an infringement or prejudge in any way the outcome of the investigation. It only means that ESA will proceed with an in-depth investigation."

Trustly helps customers make instant online payments direct from their bank accounts and is challenging banks and credit card firms in Europe.

DNB (LSE: 0O84.L - news) , Norway's biggest bank, said in a statement it had blocked a solution made by Trustly to prevent the Swedish firm from obtaining access to customers' confidential payment log-in details.

"We look forward to illuminate this case and our considerations, in a dialogue with ESA. We will of course assist ESA with all the documentation they need from our side," it said.

Lobby group Finance Norway and BankID, which helps facilitate payments on behalf of most Norwegian banks, said they had for some time discussed with ESA how to give access to outside firms, and denied any wrongdoing in the Trustly case.

Nordea said in a statement that it would continue to cooperate with ESA. (Reporting by Terje Solsvik and Stine Jacobsen; editing by Jason Neely)