Spain Fines Insurers For Price-fixing

DANIEL WOOLLS

MADRID (AP) — Spanish regulators said Thursday they have fined six European insurance companies a total of euro120.7 million ($180 million) for fixing prices on building-defect coverage during the Spanish housing boom.

It was the heftiest fine ever imposed by the National Competition Commission. The sanctions can be appealed.

The commission said the six firms were guilty of a "very grave infraction" of competition rules by engaging in this practice in Spain from 2002 to 2007, when the housing market was red hot and new homes sprouted like mushrooms.

The companies named are Mapfre, Asefa and Caser of Spain, along with Swiss Re, Munich Re and Scor, of France.

Under a Spanish law passed in 2002, builders of residential properties have to take out a 10-year insurance policy to cover repair costs for any defects that emerge and are deemed to stem from structural problems.

The housing boom spurred an expansion in supply of this kind of insurance and stiff price competition.