UniCredit, UBS, Nomura lose appeal against EU bond cartel fines

Three banking majors, Italy’s UniCredit, Switzerland’s UBS and Japan’s Nomura, lost a legal challenge on Wednesday against a multi-million-euro EU fine for their role in an illegal cartel involving the trading of European government bonds.

The European Commission had imposed the fine after the banks’ traders participated in collusion with other financial institutions between 2007 and 2011.

The Luxembourg-based General Court of the European Union, the second-highest in the bloc, upheld the decision but slightly reduced the fines for Nomura and UniCredit.

However, banking giant UBS faces the largest penalty, with a fine of €172 million (about $186 million) remaining unchanged.

Nomura and UniCredit’s fines were reduced to just under €126 million and €65 million, respectively. UniCredit reported earnings of over €9 billion last year.

Seven banks were implicated in the cartel, including Bank of America.

However, penalties for the other banks were either time-barred or waived, as they acted as key witnesses or had no significant turnover.

The ruling is not final and the banks still have the option to appeal the decision.