ST.-PETERSBURG, January 13 - RAPSI. A commercial court will hear in January and February three lawsuits filed by major banks against the antimonopoly authority to invalidate the imposition of penalties for breach of Competition Law, court records say.

VTB, Russian Standard and AK BARS banks are challenging the December 6 resolution of the St. Petersburg antimonopoly authority imposing a 150,000 ruble ($4,700) penalty on each of them for breach of the Competition Law. The breach boils down to the banks' failure to inform the watchdog of entering into master deposit agreements with the St. Petersburg's Financial Committee and St. Petersburg Currency Exchange regulating city funds investment into bank deposits.

Similar penalties were imposed on Zenith and Petrocommerce banks, which have not yet contested the resolution.