|
Deutsche Bank escaped a potential 21.5-million-euro fine because
it alerted the cartel to the European Commission.
The EU competition watchdog said the cartel operated in the
European secondary trading market related to U.S. denominated
supra-sovereign, sovereign and agency (SSA) bonds.
BAML's fine was 12.6 million euros, Credit Suisse 11.9 million
and Credit Agricole 3.9 million euros.
Credit Suisse said it would challenge the EU fine in court.
"Credit Suisse continues to believe that the single former
employee whom the EC criticized did not engage in
anti-competitive conduct," the Swiss bank said in a statement.
The Commission said traders at the four banks colluded on
trading strategies, exchanged sensitive pricing information and
coordinated on prices over five years via chatrooms on Bloomberg
terminals.
The illegal practices included refraining from bidding or
removing a bid from the market so that the banks do not compete
with each other, or splitting trades between the traders without
the customer's knowledge.
"The behaviour of the investment banks restricted competition in
a market in which investment and pension funds regularly buy and
sell bonds on behalf of their investors and pensioners,"
European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a
statement.
The Commission has in recent years handed down hefty fines to
banks for taking part in several foreign exchange cartels,
Euribor and Libor benchmark cartels and is currently
investigating a European government bond cartel.
($1 = 0.8284 euros)
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, additional reporting by Oliver Hirt
in Zurich; editing by Jason Neely and Louise Heavens)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
