Foreword

Access to finance and payment services that are fast, secure and affordable are crucial for promoting financial inclusion and supporting private sector investment. However recent surveys in Tunisia have consistently shown that approximately two-thirds of the population lack current accounts, and limited access to finance remains a major obstacle for businesses. This has resulted in a low share of bank credit compared to international standards.

A well-functioning banking sector is of utmost importance to both consumers and businesses, relying on effective competition that drives efficiency and brings benefits like lower prices, improved quality, increased innovation and higher productivity. The report takes a holistic approach by considering market practices, consumer behaviour and regulation to assess how competition works in the Tunisia’s retail banking sector and it identifies the areas where market outcomes for consumers and businesses could be improved.

This project has been undertaken in close consultation with the Tunisian Government, the Central Bank of Tunisia, and other local stakeholders. The report evaluates competition in three main financial services sectors: individual and business current accounts; bank finance to micro, small and medium-sized businesses (with a focus on bank loans), and mobile payments. The report puts forward four sets of recommendations aimed at promoting competition and improving market outcomes for consumers and small and medium-sized businesses.

This project builds on the previous work on market studies of the OECD Competition Division. Between 2014 and 2016, the OECD provided support to several countries in their use of market studies as an important competition tool and the OECD helped them to develop their legal framework on market studies, to support the production of market studies in line with international best practices and to develop internal policy guidance documents. In 2016, market studies were chosen as a long-term theme for discussion at the OECD Competition Committee and between 2016 and 2018 the OECD held roundtables, hearings and workshops on various related subjects including characteristics of market studies, powers available to competition authorities to collect information, procedural safeguards for stakeholders, interaction on market studies between competition authorities and other public bodies and ex-post evaluation of market studies. Finally, in 2018 the OECD published a Market Study Guide for Competition Authorities.

This report will contribute to Tunisia’s ongoing endeavours to promote competition within its economy. Other initiatives include the OECD’s 2019 competition assessment of the country’s wholesale and retail trade sectors, and road and maritime freight transport, the OECD’s 2022 Peer Review of Tunisia’s Competition Law and Policy, and the OECD 2023 competition assessment of Tunisia’s tourism sector.