The EU has excluded 10 of the heaviest-hitting banks in the debt market from running lucrative bond sales as part of its €800 billion recovery fund, over historical breaches of antitrust rules. Banks found to have breached EU competition rules “will not be invited to tender for individual syndicated transactions”, said a spokesman for the European Commission, which handles debt issuance on behalf of the EU. The 10 banks barred from the syndications are among a list of 39 so-called “primary dealers” – banks that have a responsibility to bid for bonds during regular debt auctions, which the EU will begin in September. “These issues they are bringing up are from a long time ago, and they have been settled.”The banks working on Tuesday’s inaugural recovery fund bond were BNP Paribas, DZ Bank, HSBC, Intesa Sanpaolo, Morgan Stanley, Danske Bank and Santander. The recovery fund, which was agreed by EU member states last year, is set to transform Brussels into one of the region’s biggest borrowers.

Source: The Irish Times June 15, 2021 19:20 UTC