UBS, Nomura, and UniCredit Fail to Overturn EU Antitrust Fines in Bond Trading Cartel Case

UBS Group AG, Nomura Holdings Inc., and UniCredit SpA have failed in their bid to overturn European Union antitrust fines amounting to hundreds of millions of euros over allegations of collusion in government bond trading during the region’s sovereign debt crisis. According to Bloomberg, the EU General Court upheld the majority of the penalties imposed in May 2021, which initially totaled €371 million ($400 million).

Per Bloomberg, the court supported the European Commission’s findings that the banks had illegally formed a cartel, exchanging commercially sensitive information between 2007 and 2011—a period when eurozone bond yields were highly volatile. However, the ruling slightly reduced the fines for Nomura and UniCredit, citing investigative errors made by the Commission.

Under the 2021 decision, UBS was fined €172 million, Nomura €129.6 million, and UniCredit €69 million. Following Wednesday’s ruling, Nomura’s penalty was lowered to €125.6 million, while UniCredit’s was adjusted to €65 million. UBS’s fine remained unchanged. As Bloomberg reported, the banks retain the option to appeal the decision at the EU Court of Justice, the bloc’s highest court.

Read more: UniCredit Seeks Green Light from German Regulators for Commerzbank Stake

The European Commission had previously determined that traders on government bond desks—primarily operating out of London—engaged in frequent exchanges via chatrooms to discuss pricing and trade volumes ahead of eurozone bond auctions. These activities, regulators argued, constituted anti-competitive behavior at a time when financial institutions were grappling with the fallout of the global financial crisis.

The case forms part of the EU’s broader regulatory crackdown on cartel-like activities in bond markets. In a separate ruling in April 2021, three investment banks faced fines totaling €28 million for collusion in a U.S. dollar-denominated SSA bonds trading scheme.

A UniCredit spokesperson, as cited by Bloomberg, expressed disagreement with the court’s ruling concerning the bank’s alleged involvement in the cartel and confirmed that an appeal to the EU Court of Justice was under consideration.

This case underscores the European Commission’s continued efforts to hold financial institutions accountable for anti-competitive conduct, particularly in the wake of the 2008 Lehman Brothers collapse and the subsequent financial turmoil.

Source: Bloomberg