BELGIUM/FILE: The European Commission charges HSBC, JPMorgan, Credit Agricole with rigging financial benchmarks linked to the euro

Record ID: 565471

  • Title: BELGIUM/FILE: The European Commission charges HSBC, JPMorgan, Credit Agricole with rigging financial benchmarks linked to the euro
  • Date: 20th May 2014
  • Summary: ALMUNIA AT NEWS CONFERENCE LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HSBC BUILDING PEOPLE USING HSBC REVOLVING DOOR HSBC LOGO ON WINDOW MAN USING HSBC CASH MACHINE LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (FILE - JANUARY 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF JP MORGAN BUILDING MAN READING IN FRONT OF JP MORGAN SIGN JP MORGAN SIGN ON BUILDING PARIS, FRANCE (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF CREDIT AGRICOLE BUILDING CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK AND ATM ON STREET
  • Embargoed: 4th June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: European Union,Finance
  • Reuters ID: LVA1K7UFKTVPGFEPKVYXFEALPTZK
  • Story Text: European Union antitrust regulators charged on Tuesday (May 20) HSBC, JPMorgan and Credit Agricole with rigging financial benchmarks linked to the euro.
    The move followed a record 1.7-billion-euro ($2.3 billion) fine levied on six banks including Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Citigroup last December for similar offences.

    "Today, we are sending a signal of objections to three large international banks: Credit Agricole, HSBC, and JPMorgan Chase, and this is a further key step into our investigation into cartels in the financial sector," the EU's antitrust chief Joaquin Almunia said.
    The three banks could face penalties of up to 10 percent of their global turnover if found guilty of breaching EU antitrust rules.

    "We have now reached the preliminary conclusions that these three banks may have participated in this cartel too. If confirmed, such behaviour would be a breach of our anti-trust rules that prohibit anti-competitive agreements and in particular cartels. The three banks have now the opportunity to defend themselves. We will look carefully at all their arguments before taking any final decision," Almunia added.
    In December a record 1.7-billion-euro ($2.3 billion) fine was levied on six banks including Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Citigroup for similar offences. The lenders settled their charges and received a 10-percent cut in their fines.
    The Commission did not provide details about broker ICAP which is under investigation for suspected rigging of the yen Libor financial benchmark.
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