France’s largest banks have offered to abolish certain inter-bank fees within two years to settle proceedings by France’s Competition Authority and avoid incurring more fines on top of the €385 million penalty currently being considered in court.

France’s Competition Authority has appealed against the Paris Court of Appeal’s decision to overturn a €385 million fine the authority imposed on 11 banks for price fixing.

Germany’s Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has issued a rare merger prohibition, blocking the acquisition by banking group Haspa Finanzholding of a 25 per cent minority stake in Kreissparkasse Herzogtum Lauenburg – a savings bank.

Pakistan's Competition Commission (CCP) has raided the offices of Pakistan’s Bank Association (PBA) – which was the subject of the CCP’s first ever cartel fine four years ago – looking for evidence of collusion among banks to fix ATM charges.

The US Department of Justice’s antitrust division took multiple factors into account when deciding not to prosecute some of the world's largest banks and financial institutions - including the potential for collateral damage and the availabity of civil restitution, a top DoJ official tells GCR.

The Bank of Namibia has signed an agreement with the country’s competition authority, promising to help facilitate a competitive banking market.

Credit card companies and 13 major banks cited in a class action by millions of retailers alleging antitrust violations on credit card interchange fees may feel under pressure to settle the case, according to one antitrust expert.

Concentration among banks is not the main hindrance to effective competition in the UK banking sector, says a former Office of Fair Trading (OFT) official. Faaez Samadi in Brussels

HSBC Canada has announced it is selling its securities business to rival National Bank of Canada, subject to competition clearance.

The UK’s Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) has today released its recommendations on how the country’s banking sector should be made more competitive.

Brazil’s Council for Economic Defence (CADE) has opened an independent investigation of state-owned Banco do Brasil over the use of exclusivity agreements for the provision of payroll loans to civil servants.

Supermarket Carrefour’s bid for full control of its consumer credit business, CPV, has highlighted conflicts of jurisdiction between Brazil’s Council for Economic Defence (CADE) and the country’s Central Bank when scrutinising mergers of financial institutions.

Global financial company JP Morgan Chase has agreed to pay US$228 million to settle charges that its employees rigged bids in the US municipal bond market.

The head of the UK’s Office of Fair Trading has backed the Independent Banking Commission’s investigation of whether banks allowed to merge during the financial crisis should be broken up or restructured to increase competition in the banking sector.