Credit Agricole, Credit Suisse lose challenges against EU cartel fines
Adds comment by Credit Agricole
By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS, Nov 6 (Reuters) -Credit Suisse, now part of UBS UBSG.S, and Credit Agricole CAGR.PA on Wednesday lost their first challenges against million-euro fines issued by EU antitrust regulators in 2021 for taking part in a bond cartel.
The European Commission handed out a 11.9 million-euro($12.75 million) fine to Credit Suisse and a 3.9 million-eurofine to Credit Agricole, saying the cartel operated in the European secondary trading market related to U.S. denominated supra-sovereign, sovereign and agency (SSA) bonds.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which also took part in the cartel, received a 12.6 million-europenalty while Deutsche Bank, which alerted the wrongdoing to the EU antitrust enforcer, avoided a 21.5-million-euro fine.
The Luxembourg-based General Court sided with the EU competition enforcer.
"The General Court of the European Union confirms the Commission's finding of an infringement and maintains the amount of the fines imposed in 2021," the tribunal said.
The banks can appeal on matters of law to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), Europe's top court.
A spokesperson for Credit Agricole said it acknowledged the decision and was considering whether to appeal. "The fine was already paid and will therefore have no impact on our future results," the bank 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, according to the Commission.
The financial sector has been hit with billion-eurofines by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic in recent years for rigging financial benchmarks and taking part in foreign exchange cartels.
The cases are Judgments in Cases T-386/21 Credit Agricole and Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank v Commission and T-406/21 UBS Group and Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) v Commission.
($1 = 0.9333 euros)
Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; additional reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Louise Heavens and Sharon Singleton
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
