EU accuses 13 banks of derivatives collusion

EU accuses 13 banks of derivatives collusion
EU investigators accused 13 top banks including Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs on Monday of colluding over derivatives trading, in a new move to tighten banking standards. “If it is confirmed that banks collectively blocked exchanges from the derivatives market, the Commission could decide to impose sanctions,” Almunia said at a press briefing. “Exchange trading of credit derivatives improves market transparency and stability,” he said. Collusion between banks to prevent this type of trading would be “a serious breach of our competition rules”, he said. Almunia declined to give an estimate of the size of possible fines on the banks but he said the CDS market at the moment was worth about 10 trillion euros ($13 trillion).