The European Commission suspects eight banks of violation of competition rules in the trade in government bonds. Between 2007 and 2012, merchants of the non-listed financial groups in the euro zone would have exchanged commercially sensitive information on government bonds via chat rooms and made price agreements.

The banks have been informed of “the concerns” of the committee about market disruption. The perceived behavior of the traders does not mean that these practices are commonplace in the trade in government bonds, emphasizes the daily management of the EU.

In December it was announced that the committee had opened an investigation into possible price manipulation by four banks in the period between 2009 and 2015. According to a spokesman, the two cases are “separate investigations”.

We can not confirm the identity of any bank in any of the investigations.

In December, Deutsche Bank announced that it was cooperating proactively on the cartel investigation into the four banks and that no fine could be expected. This may indicate that Deutsche Bank has brought the case up in Brussels. Credit Suisse also stated that it would cooperate. Other banks have not yet reported.