The European Commission imposed an administrative fine on Rabobank for being a party to a cartel in relation to the trading of certain Euro-denominated bonds as part of an investigation initiated in May 2017 following a leniency application by Deutsche Bank.
The Commission found that between 2006 and 2016, the two banks used Bloomberg emails, instant messages and online chat rooms to exchange commercially sensitive information, such as prices, volumes, current and future trading strategies and positions, and to coordinate trading and pricing strategies through certain of their traders in euro-denominated SSA bonds and government-guaranteed bonds traded in the European Economic Area. The Commission found that the other party to the cartel, Deutsche Bank, had cooperated with the leniency program and thus received a full exemption from fines, avoiding a fine of approximately €156 million, while Rabobank was fined €26.6 million.
(European Commission – 22.11.2023)