EU Fines Bank Of America, Crédit Agricole, And Credit Suisse EUR 28 Mln For Bond-Trading Cartel

(RTTNews) - The European Commission said it has fined Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Crédit Agricole, and Credit Suisse a total of 28.49 million euros for taking part in a bond cartel. But, Deutsche Bank was not fined as it revealed the existence of the cartel to the Commission.

The Commission noted that the four banks took part in a cartel in the secondary trading market within the European Economic Area of Supra-sovereign, Sovereign and Agency (SSA) bonds denominated in US Dollars.

The Commission alleged that traders at the four banks colluded on trading strategies, exchanged sensitive pricing information and coordinated on prices.

The EU competition watchdog stated that behavior of the banks restricted competition in a market in which investment and pension funds regularly buy and sell bonds on behalf of their investors and pensioners. The cartel harmed the financial markets.