Special units from the Hellenic Competition Commission conducted a surprise audit at the headquarters of the four Greek systemic banks.

The members of the task forces (10 per each unit) reportedly appeared unexpectedly at the offices of NBG, Eurobank, Alpha and Piraeus Banks at 9 am on Thursday and asked the banking personnel and executives to leave their offices without touching anything.

Some of the audits at offices of higher banking executives have been completed, while the units are continuing their checks in other offices.

The reasons for the sudden audit are believed to be linked to the banks’ commissioning policy. Information indicates that the “raid” is associated with an extrajudicial prosecution conducted in the summer for similar practices.

The Minister of Development Adonis Georgiadis said he had heard from the market that three of the four banks had colluded to fix their commission rates.