FCA Bank and CACF obtain dismissal of appeal challenging annulment of alleged anticompetitive practice in Italian car financing sector

Client(s) FCA Bank S.p.A. and Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance SA

Jones Day advised FCA Bank S.p.A. and Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance SA ("CACF") in an antitrust investigation of the Italian Competition Authority ("ICA") relating to alleged anticompetitive exchanges of information between captive banks of car manufacturers in Italy on interest rates and financial terms offered to consumers.

With a judgment rendered on February 2, 2022 in Rome, the "Consiglio di Stato" dismissed the appeal lodged by the ICA against the judgment rendered by the court of first instance ("TAR Lazio"), which had annulled in full an ICA decision finding FCA Bank and all the other captive banks operating in Italy liable of an anticompetitive exchange of information affecting the market for car financing in Italy. FCA Bank had been imposed a fine of €178,919,400, which is now definitively annulled.