Brussels, 19/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 19 October, the European Commission confirmed that the competition services had been carrying out unannounced inspections since the previous day “in certain member states”, in the premises of financial institutions active in financial derivative products linked to the Euro Interbank Offered Rate. It has suspicions that the companies in question may have broken competition rules banning cartels and other restrictive commercial practices. It is believed that the banks in question include a major French bank and a major German bank, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Euribor is one of the principal monetary market reference rates of the eurozone. For a given period of time (for example: EUR 3M three-month rating), it is the daily reference rate based on the average interest rate for unsecured loans (i.e. for loans not guaranteed by bonds) made by a sample of 43 major banks based in Europe to other major banks. (FG/transl.fl)