Europe Investigating Banks Over Derivatives

[SecularMotion]

Source: NY Times

11:05 a.m. | Updated European Union antitrust regulators announced on Friday two sweeping antitrust investigations into the world’s largest banks and their roles in a market for derivatives where a small number of companies control trillions of dollars of financial instruments.

The European officials are looking at whether banks, including Barclays and Goldman Sachs, have harmed rival organizations that could compete in markets for providing information and clearing a form of transaction that had become critical to the smooth functioning of the entire economy.

“Lack of transparency in markets can lead to abusive behavior and facilitate violations of competition rules,” the European Union antitrust commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, said in a statement. “I hope our investigation will contribute to a better functioning of financial markets and, therefore, to more sustainable recovery.”

The inquiry follows an examination of that market last year by The New York Times that highlighted efforts by banks like JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and others to control access to the derivatives market, even as global regulators try to bring transparency and safety to a murky corner of the financial world.

Read more: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/04/29/european-regulators-investigating-banks-over-cds/?hp

[stockholmer]

1. paging the SEC, the CFTC, Attorney General Holder, hello! anybody home? hello? hello?

:grr: