EU: Report finds financial upside to collusion

Thanks to corporate collusion, the European Union has reportedly earned a record amount of fines issued by regulators in what some reports say is the upside to cartel behavior.

The EU saw a record-setting year in 2013 for antitrust fines amounting to $2.5 billion in fines. In comparison, the US saw $1.02 billion in fines, and Chinese regulators collected $242 million. The figures were curated by law firm Allen & Overy.

Reports say the fines sanctioned y the European Commission get re-circulated into the European Union’s budget; this is good news for authorities who have been forced to scale back financial spending following complaints by the UK, Brussels and other EU members.

The largest fines for the Commission stemmed from its widespread probe into six major financial groups for LIBOR and Euribor benchmark manipulation – a scandal that hit Deutsche Bank, RBS, JP Morgan Chase and others, leading to $2.32 billion in penalties.

Last March, Microsoft was hit with a $731 million fine for breaching an earlier agreement to allow users to choose Internet browsers.

Looking ahead, the global auto parts price-fixing probe, also focused within the US and Asia, will likely yield significant fines for the EU, say reports.

Full Content: Wall Street Journal

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