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EU: Investigation possible rigging of $1.5 trillion debt market

By  |  February 9, 2016

European Union antitrust regulators are investigating several banks for possible rigging of the $1.5 trillion government-sponsored bond market, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

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    The European Commission has sent questionnaires focusing on the price of supra-national, sub-sovereign and agency debt to a number of market participants as part of an early stage investigation, the paper said, without identifying the banks.

    The EU competition watchdog is looking into a possible cartel, it cited a person familiar with the investigation as saying.

    Debt issuers in this market includes the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and regional borrowers such as Germany’s Laender, with such bonds often covered by an implicit or explicit state guarantee, it said.

    The FT said the EU investigation is likely to have started at the same time as that of the US Department of Justice.

    Full content: The Financial Times

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