The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will not intervene in the proposed joint venture of the voucher processing facilities of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac Banking Corporation, ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today.
"The ACCC has carefully considered the competitive impact of the proposed joint venture in various markets including the national wholesale voucher processing market and the national wholesale supply of agency voucher processing services market.
"The transaction will create a joint venture company, upon the completion of a competitive tender process, with the function of acting as a service entity. As a result, the parties to the arrangement will collectively outsource their voucher processing requirements, but will not provide these facilities downstream as a single entity. The banks will continue to compete for the provision of voucher processing services to downstream customers.
"Whilst the ACCC considers that the barriers to entry to the market are high, it does not consider that there will be any change to those customers who acquire voucher processing services. In addition, the maturity of the voucher processing market has, in effect, foreclosed much of the market to potential entrants. The ACCC also notes the continued decline of vouchers as a payment instrument.
"On this basis, the ACCC concluded that the proposed joint venture is unlikely to result in a substantial lessening of competition".