Four major banks have been fined a total exceeding £100 million for engaging in practices that involved sharing sensitive trading information regarding UK Government debt, known as gilts.

The largest individual penalty was levied against the Royal Bank of Canada, which will pay £34.2 million.

Citi has been fined approximately £17.2 million, while HSBC faces a penalty of £23.4 million, and Morgan Stanley will pay £29.7 million.

The fines were reduced because the banks promptly settled the cases.

Citi received the most significant reduction after resolving its case before other institutions.

A fifth bank, Deutsche Bank, was granted immunity after it voluntarily reported its conduct to regulatory authorities.

Gilts represent UK Government bonds akin to IOUs, which the government issues to raise funds while promising to repay the buyers with interest at a specified future date.

These mechanisms contribute to the UK’s ability to finance public expenditures.

According to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the traders involved were found to have attempted to restrict competition related to these financial instruments.

CMA executive director of competition enforcement, Juliette Enser, emphasized the importance of a functional financial services sector to the UK economy and highlighted the need for healthy market competition to foster business confidence and growth.

The imposed fines reflect the CMA’s ongoing commitment to addressing violations of competition law and discouraging anti-competitive behavior, with officials noting that the penalties would have been significantly larger if the banks had not implemented extensive corrective measures prior to these investigations.

The CMA acknowledged that some compliance improvements were initiated even before the authorities began their probe in 2018.

The misconduct took place between 2009 and 2013, a period during which the Bank of England was purchasing gilts to stimulate the economy following the financial crisis.

While the banks were not all involved in infractions throughout the entire timeframe, HSBC’s last recorded infringement occurred in 2010, while Morgan Stanley’s was noted in 2012.

Traders from Deutsche Bank and the Royal Bank of Canada were documented to have shared sensitive information on the highest number of discrete occasions, totaling 41 days between November 2009 and April 2013. Collectively, the penalties imposed on the four banks amount to £104,460,000.