CMA investigation found that traders were sharing information about the gilts market in chat rooms
Four major City banks—Citi, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, and Royal Bank of Canada—have been fined a total of £104,460,000 by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for unlawfully sharing competitively sensitive information about Government bond pricing. The CMA found that traders at each bank used private Bloomberg chatrooms to share sensitive details about buying and selling gilts. The fines, which were reduced due to the banks' efforts to prevent future issues, amount to £17,160,000 for Citi, £23,400,000 for HSBC, £29,700,000 for Morgan Stanley, and £34,200,000 for Royal Bank of Canada.
