Reuters reported that European court has upheld fines imposed by the European Commission on all banks, except Oesterreichische Postsparkasse, forming the "Lombard Club" cartel, which set deposit and lending rates across the country.
Our view: The Commission had fined Austrian banks, including Erste Bank, Raiffeisen Zentralbank and Bank Austria with € 124.3m in 2002 in a case of violation of antitrust laws. We expect the news to have a neutral impact on the stock price today, as the fine have already been paid by the bank back in 2002.