EU antitrust regulators charge Deutsche Bank, Rabobank over bond cartel

EU antitrust regulators on Tuesday charged Deutsche Bank and Rabobank with taking part in a government bond cartel.

The European Commission said the two banks coordinated pricing and trading strategies on euro-denominated sovereign, SSA (supra-sovereign, foreign sovereign, sub-sovereign/agency), covered and government-guaranteed bonds between 2005-2016.

It said some of their traders communicated mainly through emails and online chatrooms. The EU competition watchdog said it had sent a charge sheet known as a statement of objections to the banks.