A ruling delivered today by the General Court has affirmed the European Commission’s finding that seven investment banks—UBS, Natixis, UniCredit, Nomura, Bank of America, Portigon (formerly WestLB), and NatWest (formerly Royal Bank of Scotland)—were involved in a cartel operation. This scheme, active between January 2007 and November 2011, saw the banks cooperating and exchanging information to gain competitive advantages in the issuance, placement, or trading of Euro-denominated sovereign bonds (ODPE).
This activity impacted the entire market within the European Economic Area (EEA).
The Commission initially imposed total fines amounting to 371 million euros on Nomura, UBS, and UniCredit. The court has since adjusted these penalties, reducing Nomura’s fine from 129.5 million euros to 125.6 million euros and UniCredit’s fine from 69.4 million euros to 65 million euros.
