, Columnist
Bond Market Has a $970 Billion Sheriff in Town
Has Brussels overreached with the temporary bar of 10 banks from its syndicated bond sales?
Repeat punishment.
Photographer: Hulton Archive/Hulton ArchiveThis article is for subscribers only.
There’s a new sheriff in town for financial markets. The European Commission, the administrative center of the EU, has just sent the clearest signal possible to global investment banks that there will be zero tolerance of market rigging in the bloc’s financial markets.
By excluding 10 large banks from the syndicate for Tuesday’s blowout 20 billion-euro ($24 billion) bond sale for the EU’s pandemic recovery fund, Brussels has introduced a new and painful form of punishment for traders who have ever shared sensitive pricing information with their counterparts at other firms.