Antitrust: Commission re-adopts decision and fines ICAP €6.45 million for facilitating several cartels in the Yen Interest Rate Derivatives trading market

The European Commission has re-adopted a cartel decision against ICAP for having breached EU antitrust rules by facilitating several cartels in the area of the Yen Interest Rate Derivatives (‘YIRDs’) trading market. The European Commission has now imposed total fines of €6.45 million on ICAP plc (now called NEX International Limited), ICAP Management Services Ltd, and ICAP New Zealand Limited. YIRDs are financial products, used by banks or companies to manage the risk of interest rate fluctuations. In February 2015, the Commission adopted a decision imposing fines on the same ICAP entities for facilitating six bilateral infringements in the YIRDs sector. In November 2017, the General Court annulled one out of the six infringements and shortened the duration of four infringements. The General Court also annulled the fines imposed on ICAP for inadequate reasoning. In July 2019, the Court of Justice dismissed the Commission’s appeal and, as ICAP did not appeal, the General Court’s findings on ICAP’s liability for the five infringements became final, albeit without fines. Today’s decision, correcting the procedural error and including a detailed reasoning on the fine calculation, imposes fines on the three entities of ICAP having participated in the five infringements at the time. The decision is in line with Commission’s policy of pursuing an effective and deterrent enforcement against cartels. The decision will be made available under case number 39861 in the public case register on the Commission’s competition website. More information on the Commission’s action against cartels is available in the cartels section of the competition website.