OREANDA-NEWS. June 30, 2009. The Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in the Yaroslavl region (OFAS Russia) terminated the case initiated against "Sovkombank" Investment Commercial Bank" Ltd. ("Sovkombank" ICB Ltd.), "Spasskie Vorota" Insurance Group" CJSC and "UralSib" Insurance Group" CJSC for violating Clause 5 Part 1 Article 11 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition", which prohibits imposing unfavourable contract conditions upon a counteragent, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

Grounds for initiating the case: information received by the Yaroslavl OFAS Russia when the bank and insurance groups notified OFAS Russia about the agreements between them. OFAS Russia saw the elements of antimonopoly in the obligations of the insurance companies to agree the insurance period, the amount of coverage and insurance deposit with the bank that grants loans to the insured. It could lead, in particular, to prolonging the insurance contract in subsequent years and preventing the clients from choosing another insurance company, which offers more beneficial conditions, if the loan period is more than one year.

Before the case was processed, the companies had voluntarily undertaken actions to eliminate the antimonopoly violations: "Sovkombank" ICB Ltd. and "UralSib" Insurance Group" CJSC terminated the agreement, while "Sovkombank" ICB Ltd. and "Spasskie Vorota" Insurance Group" CJSC introduced the necessary amendments to the agreement.

Currently the Yaroslavl OFAS Russia is examining a possibility of initiating administrative proceedings against "Sovkombank" ICB Ltd. and the "UralSib" and "Spasskie Vorota" Insurance Groups based on the established fact of antimonopoly violations under Article 14.32 of the Code on Administrative Violations.