Brazilian Antitrust Authority (CADE) And Brazilian Central Bank (BACEN) To Form A Working Group To Discuss Antitrust In The National Financial System

CADE and BACEN formed a Working Group to study and discuss antitrust matters related to the National Financial System, focusing in form, limits of competence and cooperation among them. The Working Group is formed by 4 representatives of each authority and will have 120 days to conclude their activities, with the possibility of extending this period, if necessary. The opportunity of forming this working group arises out of the discussions relating M&A transactions that must be submitted to CADE, according to Law n. 12.529/11 (Brazilian Antitrust Law), which involves financial institutions, where one more step may be taken before the BACEN, which is responsible for supervising the national financial system and to protect harming situations for national economy, pursuant Law n. 4.595/64. There is a competence conflict between these two rules, where in one side, Law n. 4.595/64 provides the private competence to BACEN to approve corporate transactions involving financial institutions and to regulate competition conditions between financial institutions and, on the other side, law 12.529/11 sets forth that CADE is the competent authority to authorize corporate transactions which may impact competition, according to the thresholds and conditions provided by law. This conflict is currently under judicial discussion. In 2001, Banco Bradesco acquired Banco BCN and did not submitted the transaction to CADE, claiming that...