The bank stressed that throughout this process, initiated by the AdC in 2012, it had the opportunity to provide all the clarifications requested and to explain the reasons why the accusations made against it were not adequately supported and substantiated.

According to the bank, the authority's decision does not show that the information-sharing practices imputed to BCP had any negative effect on consumers.

BCP also added that in the period covered by the decision includes the pre-financial crisis of 2008, in which there were very competitive commercial practices between institutions, to strengthen market shares.

"After 2008, BCP's pricing reflected the generalised increase in credit spreads as a result of the economic and financial crisis and the country's financing conditions," the bank said.

On the other hand, the BCP highlighted, the information exchanged by the marketing departments corresponded to the standard spreads that are disclosed through the general price list and not to the prices that ended up being practised in individual negotiations with customers.

BCP also guaranteed that it is committed to strictly complying with the competition rules.

The Competition Authority sentenced 14 banks to fines totalling €225 million for concerted action on sensitive information on mortgage lending between 2002 and 2013, the AdC said on Monday.

The banks convicted are "BBVA, BIC (for facts practiced by the then BPN), BPI, BCP, BES, Banif, Barclays, CGD, Caixa de Crédito Agrícola, Montepio, Santander (for facts practiced by them and by Banco Popular), Deutsche Bank and UCI", according to the statement by AdC.

The authority stated that the banks participating in the concerted practice exchanged sensitive information on the supply of credit products in retail banking, namely housing loans, consumer credit and corporate credit.