In a judgment on Wednesday 27 November (Case T-561/21), the General Court of the European Union dismissed in its entirety HSBC’s appeal against the European Commission’s revised decision, adopted in 2021, and upheld the fine of €31.7 million for restricting competition.
The case dates back to 2016 and a European Commission decision accusing Crédit Agricole, HSBC and JPMorgan Chase of restricting competition in the euro interest rate derivatives (EIRD) market (see EUROPE 11684/3).
At the time, an initial fine of €33.6 million was imposed on HSBC. In 2019, the General Court of the European Union confirmed the infringement, but annulled the fine due to lack of reasoning on the part of the Commission.
Following the partial annulment of the initial decision, the Commission adopted a new decision in June 2021 to remedy this lack of reasoning. It reduced the fine imposed on HSBC to €31.7 million.
HSBC contested this new decision. In January 2023, the Court ruled against HSBC, dismissing its appeal but upholding the annulment of the initial fine (see EUROPE 13098/21).
In its judgment on Wednesday 27 November, the General Court dismissed HSBC’s appeal against the 2021 decision and upheld the revised fine of €31.7 million.
The General Court considers that the Commission did not infringe the limitation period in imposing the fine, thanks to the suspension linked to the pending appeal, and rejects HSBC’s arguments for the reduction or cancellation of the fine.
See the judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/eib (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)