An investigation by the European Commission has concluded that seven investment banks violated antitrust rules during the 2008 crisis, CNBC reports. Three of them will be fined.
The seven institutions participated in a “cartel” in the trading of bonds on the primary and secondary European debt markets between 2007 and 2011, the Commission said. Traders exchanged commercially sensitive information and discussed their strategies before the auction.
The institutions involved in the cartel are Bank of America, Natixis, Nomura, RBS, UBS, UniCredit and WestLB. Nomura, UBS and UniCredit will pay a total of € 371 million in fines.
A spokesman for Nomura said the decision was related to the behavior of two employees who had already been fired. As well as that the bank is considering whether to appeal the decision. UBS is also considering its next move. UniCredit has not yet commented.
NatWest, formerly known as RBS, was not fined for issuing the cartel to the Commission. Bank of America and Natixis will not pay a fine for the expired statute of limitations, and Portigon (before WestLB) did not receive a fine because it did not submit a report for last year.
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