Portugal court spares big banks from paying millions in fines for mortgage collusion

LISBON (Reuters) - A Portuguese court of appeal said on Monday that 11 major banks that had been convicted of collusion in housing loans do not have to pay a total fine of 225 million euros ($232 million) as the statute of limitations on the unlawful acts had expired.

In September, the Santarem Competition Court ruled that the banks had colluded by exchanging information on mortgage loan spreads, amounts granted and aligned commercial practices between 2002 and 2013, thus distorting competition.

That court supported the fine proposed by the Portuguese competition authority, but the lenders involved in the so-called "banking cartel" appealed the decision. The competition authority or public prosecutors can still appeal to the constitutional court.

Lisbon's Court of Appeal said in a statement on Monday that the statute of limitations on acts carried out by banks "expired on September 1, 2023 or, at most, applying COVID-19 laws, on February 11, 2024".

It added that the case was dismissed without any fines imposed.

State-owned bank Caixa Geral de Depositos was targeted with the largest fine of 82 million euros, followed by Millennium bcp with 60 million euros, Santander Totta with 35.65 million euros and Banco BPI - owned by Spain's CaixaBank - with 30 million euros.

($1 = 0.9696 euros)

(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; Editing by Nick Zieminski)