Thirteen banks, Markit, and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) were charged by the European Commission for breaking anti-trust rules. The charges included blockade of two exchanges in the credit derivatives market during the last decade.
The group allegedly cut off or blocked Deutsche Boerse and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange from entering into credit default swaps (CDS) transactions during the period between 2006 and 2009. CDS are over-the-counter contracts wherein an investor could bet for or against a company or country defaulting on its bond.
The 13 banking institutions included Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, UBS, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Bear Stearns, BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan, and RBS. Barclays, HSBC, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, and UBS did not comment, while the rest were not available to comment or had no immediate comment.
The EU antitrust regulator has opened several cases involving institutions offering financial services following the 2007-2009 crisis. If found guilty, these institutions would have to pay up to 10% of their global turnover.
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