Brussels, 02/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - Information viewed as confidential by some companies has erroneously been communicated during a European Commission investigation into allegations of anti-competitive practices by a number of big banks, explained Antoine Colombani, a spokesman for the EU Competition Commissioner, at a press conference on Tuesday 1 October, saying this was not the fault of the Commission. He said companies and lawyers representing them made a mistake by sending in confidential versions of documents that all parties were to have access to and because of this mistake, due to use of the wrong software, some confidential information could have been gained from the DVDs on which the files were saved. He refused to comment on which companies might be involved, simply saying that access to confidential information was limited and only a fraction of the documents in the Commission's confidential file were leaked. He said the Commission had acted properly because as soon as it detected the error, it demanded the immediate destruction of the DVDs in question and in this type of investigation, it is for the parties involved to preserve the confidentiality of the information they provide.
The case in question is suspected price-fixing by thirteen big EU and US banks (Bank of AmericaMerrill Lynch, Barclays, Bear Stearns, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS), which are suspected of colluding to prevent or restrict the arrival on the market of credit default swaps (CDS). The Markit company, the leading supplier of financial information on the CDS market, and the international derivatives association (ISDA) are also reported to be involved. (FG/transl.fl)