Model agencies and industry body accused of price fixing

Published: 25-May-2016

Top UK agencies accused of collusion and price fixing by regulator

The UK’s Competition and Market Authority (CMA) has accused the country’s top five model agencies of collusion and price fixing.

According to a statement released by the CMA, agencies FM Models, Models 1, Premier, Storm and Viva “agreed to exchange confidential, competitively sensitive information, including pricing information, and in some instances agreed a common approach to pricing”.

The CMA has alleged that the agencies used the Association of Model Agents (AMA) to organise the breach, and that the industry body “played an important role” in the scheme. “AMA Alerts”, emails sent to members, were said to be used to encourage agencies to reject fees offered by specific customers in order to negotiate a better fee.

Storm currently manages Jourdan Dunn, Julianne Moore and Poppy Delevingne. Moore is the face of the L'Oréal Paris Age Perfect Cell Renew Skin Care range, while Delevingne has fronted Nails Inc campaigns in the past, since replaced by Alexa Chung.

Storm is also known for launching the career of Kate Moss. Premier is similarly credited with Naomi Campbell and currently includes Bar Refaeli on its books. Viva manages Alessandra Ambrosio, Doutzen Kroes and Natalia Vodianova, while Models 1 manages Erin O’Connor, Linda Evangelista, Billy Huxley and Amber Le Bon.

The allegations are said to concern prices charged to a range of clients including retailers, fashion brands and consumer goods companies.

Stephen Blake, Senior Director of the CMA’s Cartels and Criminal Group, said: “This is the first competition enforcement case taken forward by the CMA in the creative industries, which are an important part of the UK economy.” He added that these findings were “provisional” and that the CMA was unable to draw any conclusion as yet.

The CMA will consider representations from the agencies before making a final decision on whether or not the practices uncovered broke the law. This development comes after the CMA’s investigation began in March last year, which saw a series of raids on agency offices in August 2015.

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