Disclaimer :

The Competition DG makes the information provided by the notifying parties in section 1.2 of Form CO available to the public in order to increase transparency. This information has been prepared by the notifying parties under their sole responsibility, and its content in no way prejudges the view the Commission may take of the planned operation. Nor can the Commission be held responsible for any incorrect or misleading information contained therein.

SECTION 1.2

Description of the concentration

The Commission has received a notification pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) 139/2004 of a proposed concentration by which the French undertaking SociÈtÈ GÈnÈrale (SociÈtÈ GÈnÈrale), acting through its affiliate Boursorama SA (Boursorama), and the Spanish undertaking Caixa d'Estalvis I Pensions de Barcelona "la Caixa" (la Caixa) would create a full-function joint-venture active in the provision of on-line banking services in Spain.

The activities of the undertakings involved in the proposed concentration are the following:

• SociÈtÈ GÈnÈrale is a major financial services group, operating in 82 countries and employing close to 135,000 staff. SociÈtÈ GÈnÈrale is organised around five core businesses: French networks; international retail banking; financial services; global investment management and services; corporate and investment banking.

• Boursorama provides online retail banking and brokerage services in France (where it also maintains a small network of 20 branches), Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain. Boursorama also operates specialised financial information websites in France and Germany.

• La Caixa is a major retail and savings bank in Spain operating a network of approximately 5.500 branches and 8.100 cash dispensers.

The creation of the joint venture will not give rise to any significant antitrust concerns since the overlaps between the activities of the undertakings involved in the proposed concentration are extremely limited.

Beside, SociÈtÈ GÈnÈrale and Boursorama, on the one hand, and la Caixa, on the other hand, do not have any incentive to coordinate their business activities outside the joint venture since they mainly operate in different geographic markets.