CMA has provisionally found that Citi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and Royal Bank of Canada each unlawfully shared competitively sensitive information in one-to-one Bloomberg chatrooms. It found the breaches, which happened at various times between 2009-2013 took place between small numbers of traders and related to UK government bonds, particularly gilts and gilt asset swaps. The exchanges of information could have denied the full benefits of competition to those the banks traded with. So far, Deutsche brought the conduct to the CMA’s attention and Citi has applied for leniency. The investigation is ongoing.
CMA finds provisional breach in bond information sharing
