Spanish banks will be under scrutiny to ensure that they do not raise fees for mortgages and do not coordinate their efforts to set commissions at certain levels, Europa Press quoted the head of Spain's competition body as saying Nov. 12.
"We are not going to allow any coordinated efforts, such as agreements between banks or collective recommendations," National Commission for Markets and Competition head José María Marín Quemada said.
He added that the commission would also look at banks' commercial policies to see if they are raising the price of a mortgage or not.
Spain's government recently approved a change in the law to make banks pay the stamp duty on mortgages after the Supreme Court ruled that customers, not banks, must be liable for mortgage stamp duty.
