On 2 December 2021, the Commission issued a press release stating that it completed its cartel investigation into the Foreign Exchange (Forex) spot trading market.[1] The Commission fined five banks, UBS, Barclays, BRS, HSBC and Credit Suisse, a total of €344 million for collusive behaviour of traders in charge of G10 currencies, i.e. ten of the most liquid and widely traded currencies worldwide.[2] This was the third leg of the Commission’s investigation into the Forex market. The first two legs of the investigation were concluded with the adoption of settlement decisions in May 2019.[3] We wrote about the earlier settlement decisions in Q2019-2.

[1]Press release European Commission 2 December 2021 ‘Antitrust: Commission fines UBS, Barclays, RBS, HSBC and Credit Suisse € 344 million for participating in a Foreign Exchange spot trading cartel.’

[2] The G10 currencies are AUD, CAD, EUR, JPY, NZD, NOK, GBP, SEK, CHF and USD.

[3] Summary of Commission decision of 16 May 2019, Case AT.40135.