Nomura, UBS, UniCredit fined 371 mln euros for bonds trading cartel (updated)
20/05/2021 11:31
(Adds detail)
By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS, May 20 (Reuters) - Nomura 9716.T , UBS UBSG.S
and UniCredit CRDI.MI were fined a total of 371 million euros
($452 million) by EU antitrust regulators on Thursday for taking
part in a European government bonds trading cartel.
The penalties are the latest to hit the financial industry
in connection with several foreign exchange cartels, Euribor and
Libor benchmark cartels, and bonds cartels.
The European Commission said Bank of America BAC.N , RBS
(now known as NatWest), Natixis CNAT.PA and WestLB (now known
as Portigon) also took part in the cartel.
Natwest escaped a 260-million-euro fine as it alerted the
cartel to the EU competition watchdog. Bank of America and
Natixis were also not fined either because their infringement
falls outside the limitation period for imposition of fines, the
Commission said.
It said Portigon, the legal and economic successor to
WestLB, received a zero fine as it did not generate any net
turnover in the last business year.
"A well-functioning European government bonds market is
paramount both for the eurozone member states issuing these
bonds to generate liquidity and the investors buying and trading
them," European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said
in a statement.
The Commission said the cartel ran from 2007 to 2011, with
traders from the banks informing and updating each other on
their prices and volumes offered in the run up to the auctions
and the prices shown to their customers or to the market in
general via multilateral chatrooms on Bloomberg terminals.
($1 = 0.8207 euros)
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Barbara Lewis)
((foo.yunchee@thomsonreuters.com; +32 2 287 6844; Reuters
Messaging: foo.yunchee.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))