Wesbank and Toyota Financial Services agree to a settlement

The Competition Commission welcomes the Competition Tribunal’s confirmation of the settlement agreement concluded between the Commission and WesBank, a division of FirstRand Bank (“WesBank”), Toyota Financial Services South Africa (“TFSSA”), Toyota Motor Corporation (“TMC”), Toyota Financial Services UK PLC (“TFSUK”) and Toyota South Africa Motors (Pty) Ltd (“TSA”) (“the Respondents”). In terms of the settlement agreement, the Respondents will pay an administrative penalty of R30 000 000 (R30 million) without admission of liability.

This settlement agreement followed the Commission’s referral on 01 February 2022 and subsequent prosecution of a complaint against the Respondents before the Tribunal for allegedly dividing the market for wholesale and retail financing of Toyota vehicles by allocating suppliers and/ or customers, in possible contravention of section 4(1)(b)(ii) of the Competition Act 89 of 1998, as amended.

It was alleged that in terms of the Respondents’ joint venture agreement, WesBank was restrained from offering motor vehicle finance to customers seeking to purchase vehicles at authorised Toyota dealerships. All vehicle finance applications made directly to WesBank by customers seeking to purchase vehicles from authorised Toyota dealerships were referred to the joint venture, TFSSA, for finance. The vehicles involved were new Toyota, Lexus and Hino vehicles and any used vehicles sold through the authorised Toyota dealerships.

As part of the settlement agreement, the Respondents will remove restrictions that prevented Wesbank from financing motor vehicles purchased from authorised Toyota dealerships.

“The removal of the restrictions that prevented Wesbank from financing vehicles will give customers a wider choice when selecting vehicle financiers to finance vehicles purchased from authorised Toyota dealerships,” says Commissioner Doris Tshepe.

The confirmation of this settlement agreement by the Tribunal concludes all proceedings between the Commission and the Respondents in relation to this matter.