European Union regulators have fined banks JPMorgan, HSBC and Credit Agricole a combined $520 million for colluding to manipulate the price of financial products linked to interest rates.
E.U. antitrust Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the banks illegally exchanged sensitive information and colluded to take profit in the market on the specialized financial products. The E.U. fined JPMorgan Chase 337 million euros, France’s Credit Agricole 114 million euros and London-based HSBC 33 million euros.
Three years ago, the antitrust regulators levied fines totaling 1.04 billion euros on Barclays, Deutsche Bank, RBS and Societe Generale as part of the same case.
The case covers manipulation of financial contracts linked to a benchmark interest rate called Euribor in the period 2005-2008.
