Switzerland’s antitrust regulator, The Competition Commission Secretariat Services (COMCO), is investigating nine motor leasing companies in the country on suspicion of collaborating over price.
If found guilty, the sanctions against the firms could be as high as 10% of their income for the past three years.
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The companies are RCI Finance, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Schweiz, BMW Finanzdienstleistungen Schweiz, Amag Leasing, Ford Credit Switzerland, GMAC Suisse, Fidis Finance Schweiz, Multilease and PSA Finance Suisse.
Speaking to Motor Finance Patrick Kaeser, attorney-at-law and head unit liberal professions, COMCO, said it was believed that over the past seven to eight years, these companies had regularly met together to talk about price conditions.
Investigation of the firms began at the start of the year, after the body was informed of the matter by a company.
Asked about the timescale of the investigation, Kaeser said "We hope we can have a decision at the end of next year, 2015, and if something was wrong, we will sanction against the firms. But we have to prove there was an infringement of the law first."
Kaeser added that the companies had so far co operated in the investigation.
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By GlobalDataSpeaking to Motor Finance, a spokesperson for finance provider GM Financial international, said: "We intend to cooperate fully in the investigation and are interested in a timely clarification and fact finding."
