Bankdata reduces member exit fee with 50 per cent

Chair of the Danish Competition Council, Christian Schultz:

We had concerns in relation to the fact that Bankdata had a very high exit fee for its members. That may create a “lock in” and limit the competition on delivering total it-solutions to banks. It is positive that Bankdata has offered commitment that address the competition concerns identified by the Authority. We have an expectation that the other data centers will take similar steps. That will underpin that the competition between data centers to a higher degree than so far will be about delivering good IT-products to a low price.

Bankdata has committed to change its articles of association by offering commitments which The Danish Competition Council has approved. The Danish Competition Council has decided that the commitments of Bankdata meet the competition concerns of the Danish competition authorities. The Danish Competition Council has not decided on whether Bankdata has infringed competition regulation.

Bankdata is a data center that provides complete IT solutions to its members, at present 8 Danish banks.

The commitments include that Bankdata reduces its exit fee for Bankdata members from 5 times the yearly turnover between Bankdata and the withdrawing member in question to a maximum of 2.5 times the yearly turnover. The commitments will lead to a substantial reduction of the members switching costs.

The Competition Council decision has only been published in Danish. Due to pending confidentiality clarifications, please note that the decision is at present published in a” temporary version”.

For more information, please contact head of communications in The Competition and Consumer Authority, Hanne Arentoft, by phone 41 71 50 98.