We successfully defended OP Group before the FCCA in a long-running alleged abuse of a dominant position case. This was a major dominance investigation concerning acceptability of customer bonus schemes and mixed bundling/multi-product rebates. The case is one of the most significant and complex dominance matters ever investigated by the FCCA. The authority and both parties used significant resources in the investigation, which lasted for more than three years.
The case was initiated in 2015 based on a request for action by major Finnish insurance company IF to the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority. Essential claim by IF was that OP had granted insurance policies to customers on foreclosive terms by offering discounts on insurances based on bonuses they received inter alia because of their mortgages/loans. If’s request for action was, however, without merit and the FCCA ultimately closed investigations without imposing any fines to OP. The FCCA left open the question whether OP was dominant in the first place but concluded that its investigations did not even support the contention that OP’s bonus scheme could constitute abuse of a dominant position.
