Press Release: Antitrust: Commission extends CDS information market investigation to International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA)

The European Commission has extended the scope of an investigation into credit default swaps (CDS) to include the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), a professional organization of financial institutions involved in the over-the-counter (OTC) trading of derivatives.

The Commission's inquiry found preliminary indications that ISDA may have been involved in a coordinated effort of investment banks to delay or prevent exchanges from entering the credit derivatives business. Such behaviour, if established, would stifle competition in the internal market in breach of EU antitrust rules. The opening of an investigation does not prejudge its outcome.

This investigation was opened in April 2011 and is currently on-going. The Commission is examining whether a number of investment banks may have used Markit, the leading provider of financial information in the CDS market, to foreclose the development of certain CDS trading platforms. This could have been achieved through collusion or an abuse of a possible collective dominance.

European Commission: Rapid: MEMO/11/509: Antitrust: Commission probes Credit Default Swaps market http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-11-509_en.htm

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