European Commission Fines Rabobank €26.6 Million

On 02.11.2023, the European Commission (“Commission”) fined Rabobank €26.6 million for participating, together with Deutsche Bank, in a cartel relating to the trading of certain Euro-denominated bonds.

The infringement in question is as follows;

• The products subject to the cartel were Euro-denominated SSA bonds (Supra-Sovereign, Foreign Sovereign, Sub-Sovereign/Agency bonds) and Government Guaranteed bonds traded in the European Economic Area ("EEA").
• The Commission's investigation revealed that between 2006 and 2016, the two banks exchanged sensitive commercial information and coordinated their trading and pricing strategies.
• Traders operated on Deutsche Bank's EUR SSA desk in Frankfurt and Rabobank's Investment Grade Bonds desk in London. They used Bloomberg emails, instant messages and online chat rooms to exchange information on: (i) prices, volumes, and current and future trading strategies and positions; (ii) the identity of counterparties; and (iii) requirements to buy or sell bonds.

Deutsche Bank cooperated with the Commission according to the leniency program. It therefore received full exemption from fines and thus avoided a fine of approximately €156 million, whereas Rabobank was fined €26.6 million.

You can access the press release here.

Kind regards,

Zumbul Attorneys-at-Law

info@zumbul.av.tr