EU General Court Upholds Commission’s Ruling To Fine Credit Suisse And Credit Agricole

EU General Court Upholds Commission’s Ruling To Fine Credit Suisse And Credit Agricole

The banks can appeal before the Court of Justice

The European Union General Court has upheld the European Commission’s decision to penalize Credit Suisse and Credit Agricole millions of euros for their involvement in a bond cartel.

It was unearthed that the two banks, along with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, manipulated bond prices for five years.

Credit Suisse (now part of investment banking company UBS), and Credit Agricole had lost their challenges against million-euro fines issued by the EU antitrust regulators in 2021.

The Commission fined Credit Suisse 11.9 million euros ($12.75 million) and Credit Agricole 3.9 million euros. It ruled that the cartel operated in the European secondary trading market related to US-denominated supra-sovereign, sovereign, and agency (SSA) bonds.

Bank of America, which also took part in the cartel, received a 12.6-million-euro fine, while Deutsche Bank, which alerted the offence, was absolved of a 21.5-million-euro penalty.

The Luxembourg-based General Court sided with the EU competition enforcer.

The tribunal stated, "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.”

A spokesperson for Credit Agricole said the bank acknowledged the decision and was considering an appeal. He stated, "The fine was paid and will therefore have no impact on our future results.”

Traders at the four banks colluded on trading strategies, exchanged sensitive pricing information and coordinated prices over five years via chatrooms on Bloomberg terminals.

This led to regulators penalizing the financial sector with billion euros on both sides of the Atlantic in recent years. They rigged financial benchmarks and participated in foreign exchange cartels.