UK’s competition regulator has fined four global banks 104.5 million pounds ($132.4 million) for exchanging sensitive information about UK government bonds between 2009 and 2013.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had reached settlements with Citi, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, and Royal Bank of Canada.
The watchdog had found the four lenders and Deutsche Bank in breach of competition rules in relation to the matter in May 2023. Deutsche Bank, which along with Citi had admitted to anti-competitive activity, was given immunity from the fine.
The probe had found the banks’ traders shared competitively sensitive information about aspects of the pricing of UK bonds, known as gilts, in one-to-one exchanges in Bloomberg chatrooms in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
The five banks did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
($1 = 0.7891 pounds)
(Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi, additional reporting by Dhanush Vignesh Babu; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
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