LETTER: It was a conclusion, not a ruling, says FTC
published: Wednesday | August 9, 2006

THE EDITOR, Sir:

An article appearing in the Business Section of the Sunday Gleaner on August 6, 2006 erroneously reports that the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) has ruled that there is no evidence of collusion by commercial banks in the setting of interest rates and bank charges.

A ruling from the Fair Trading Commission can only take place when the commissioners acting in their quasi-judicial role convenes a formal hearing to which all interested parties are given an opportunity to be heard.

The staff of the FTC which is responsible for conducting investigations makes a decision whether or not to proceed to a formal hearing. In the matter mentioned above, the staff of the FTC came to the conclu-sion that it could not successfully substantiate the allegations of collusion before the commiss-ioners.

No formal hearing was conducted and therefore no ruling was made.

I am, etc.,

KEVIN HARRIOTT, PH.D

Competition Bureau Chief

Fair Trading Commission