Bogdan Chirițoiu Announces FICO Score Probe
Following a 3,73 miliarde de lei penalty in the ROBOR interest rate case, Romania’s Competition Council is targeting the banking sector again over how lenders evaluate credit risk. Bogdan Chirițoiu, president of the competition authority, announced a separate investigation into the methodology behind the FICO score provided by the Credit Bureau. Speaking to Antena 3 CNN, Chirițoiu stated that the inquiry examines whether the scoring system penalizes consumers who shop around for better loan terms across multiple financial institutions.
While banks routinely share borrower data to weed out individuals who have defaulted on previous contracts, the current investigation focuses on the mechanics of consumer mobility. “If, through the way this score is calculated, customers who want to move from one bank to another are downgraded, the situation can be problematic,” Chirițoiu explained. He noted that similar antitrust scrutiny regarding credit scoring is underway in the United States, with a parallel probe soon opening in Poland.
Expanded Scope Across Credit Bureau Members
The new antitrust inquiry involves a larger group of financial institutions than the previous ROBOR investigation. The checks cover the commercial banks that hold membership in the Credit Bureau, alongside the Bureau itself and the Romanian Association of Banks. Inspections began in September 2023 across 12 distinct entities, which included ten credit institutions.
The targeted commercial institutions encompass major players operating in the Romanian market. The ten banks under scrutiny include Alpha Bank România, CEC Bank, Garanti Bank, Raiffeisen Bank România, ING Bank N.V., Banca Transilvania, Eximbank, OTP Bank România, and UniCredit Bank. Competition officials estimate that the current investigation will wrap up in early 2027.
Banks Face Penalties over ROBOR Benchmark Index Manipulation
The FICO scoring probe runs parallel to the fallout from the Competition Council’s decision in June, when regulators sanctioned ten banks a total of 3,73 miliarde de lei—echivalentul a aproximativ 710 milioane de euro—over the manipulation of the ROBOR benchmark index. The authority concluded that the participating banks coordinated their commercial behavior by exchanging confidential and strategic pricing information during the fixing procedure.
National Bank of Romania Governor Mugur Isărescu rejected the premise of the ROBOR investigation, warning that linking index increases to anticompetitive practices effectively challenges central bank monetary policy decisions. Meanwhile, the penalized commercial banks have announced plans to contest the fines in court. Chirițoiu stated that if banks lose their suspension appeals, they must enforce the Council’s decisions immediately rather than waiting out six-to-twelve-month appellate processes, according to Antena 3.
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