The General Court of the European Union has upheld the European Commission’s decision of May 2021 finding that seven investment banks - UBS, Natixis, UniCredit, Nomura, Bank of America, Portigon (formerly WestLB) and NatWest (formerly Royal Bank of Scotland) - participated in a cartel to trade European government bonds between January 2007 and November 2011 (see EUROPE 12723/12) and fined Nomura, UBS and UniCredit a total of €371 million, in a judgment handed down on Wednesday 26 March (cases T-441/21, T-449/21, T-453/21, T-455/21, T-456/21 and T-462/21).
The General Court, hearing a case brought by six banks, upheld most of the Commission’s decision. It confirms the seriousness of the infringement in terms of competition, characterised by the exchange of commercially sensitive information, price fixing and customer allocation on the primary and secondary markets for sovereign securities.
The General Court also points out that an employee’s anti-competitive conduct is attributable to the company to which he or she belongs. Investment banks are therefore responsible for the behaviour of their traders.
In the case of Nomura, however, the European judge reduced the fine from €129.6 million to €125.6 million, as the Commission had erred in refusing to use the exact data provided by the bank. In the case of UniCredit, as the anti-competitive behaviour began 17 days later than the date indicated by the Commission, its fine is reduced from €69.4 million to €65 million.
However, the fine of €172.4 million imposed on UBS has been maintained.
To see the General Court’s judgment, go to https://aeur.eu/f/g4b (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)