- Under the agreement, the bank will pay about BRL 23.8 million and stop making it difficult to access data requested by customers for use by GuiaBolso;
- According to Cade’s president, Alexandre Barreto, the agreement “will generate potentially beneficial and pro-competitive effects in the financial services market” with “increased competition”, he stated in an order.
This Wednesday, Bradesco closed an agreement with the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) to end an investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices against the personal finance application GuiaBolso. The agreement could be an important precedent for the implementation of open banking in the country, which is supposed to start in November this year.
Under the agreement, the bank will pay about BRL 23.8 million and stop making it difficult to access data requested by customers for use by GuiaBolso, whose services compete with part of those offered by banks.
According to Cade’s president, Alexandre Barreto, the agreement “will generate potentially beneficial and pro-competitive effects in the financial services market” with “increased competition”, he stated in a document about the agreement.
The investigation began in July 2018, after a secretariat (Seprac) of the Ministry of Finance, now the Ministry of Economy detected that GuiaBolso clients had facilitated access to their bank account data, by including their passwords in the application, while at Bradesco it required an additional random password for access.
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According to the president and founder of GuiaBolso, Thiago Alvarez, this difficulty practically prevents the use of the application by Bradesco account holders, a public that the executive estimates at about 1.5 million people. Currently, GuiaBolso has 6 million customers.
Bradesco did not immediately comment on the matter. The bank’s shares were down 1% at 2:37 pm, while the Ibovespa showed stability.
Translated by LABS
