The European Commission has sent legal warnings to eight Austrian banks, alleging they held unlawful discussions about fees for exchanging euro zone currencies, officials said yesterday.

This is in addition to allegations the Commission has already levelled at Austrian banks suspected of having participated in an alleged cartel known as the Lombard Club.

The new warning, or "statement of objections", is "based on evidence that the banks would have also entered into unlawful discussions concerning euro-zone exchange charges", the Commission said in a statement.

In July and August of this year, the Commission sent legal warnings to banks and banking federations in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Finland and Portugal, alleging they broke anti-trust rules by operating a cartel setting fees for exchanging euro area currencies.

Bank officials from Ireland were defending their position before the Commission earlier this week. The Commission action followed public uproar that banks were still charging sometimes hefty commissions to change euro area banknotes despite the launch of the single currency in January 1999.

Banks that receive the warnings have an opportunity to defend themselves. But if the Commission finds them guilty of breaking EU competition rules they can be fined up to 10 percent of annual revenues, although in practice such a large fine has never been levied.