The European Commission has announced today that it will close antitrust proceedings against all 13 investment banks involved in its investigation into the credit default swaps market. In July 2013 the Commission issued a Statement of Objections (SO) that raised preliminary concerns that these banks had coordinated to foreclose moves to establish exchange-based trading of these derivatives products. However, having considered the written and oral representations made by these parties, the Commission has decided that the evidence is not sufficiently conclusive to confirm its concerns with regards to the investment banks.

Frontier (Europe) advised Bank of America Merrill Lynch, one of the addressees of the SO, during the Commission’s investigation process. Zoltan Biro, Director of Frontier’s competition practice, provided expert testimony at an oral hearing that took place in May 2014.

The Commission’s decision to close the proceeding against the banks does not prejudge the outcome of its investigation regarding two other addressees of the SO, Markit and ISDA, which is ongoing.

Frontier (Europe) advises financial institutions on a wide range of issues relating to competition policy in the UK and EU.

For more information, please contact Goran Serdarevic on g.serdarevic@frontier-economics.com, or call +44 (0)20 7031 7000.