The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says it has today taken proceedings on a consent basis against Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) and Macquarie Bank Limited (Macquarie) in relation to alleged attempts to engage in cartel conduct.
Following cooperation by ANZ and Macquarie, the parties have agreed on the following facts to be presented to the Federal Court for its consideration:
- a Macquarie trader, together with traders employed by ANZ and a number of other banks, all located in Singapore, communicated via private online chatrooms about daily submissions to be made to the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) in relation to the benchmark rate for the Malaysian ringgit (ABS MYR Fixing Rate);
- on various dates in 2011, traders employed by ANZ and the Macquarie trader attempted to make arrangements with other banks that particular submitting banks would make high or low submissions to the ABS in relation to the ABS MYR Fixing Rate.
The ACCC alleges that on various dates in 2011, ANZ or Macquarie sought to influence the ABS MYR Fixing Rate published on that day, and thus attempted to contravene the cartel provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
“These proceedings are a reminder that Australian cartel laws apply to financial markets, and capture cartel conduct by firms that carry on business in Australia, regardless of where that conduct occurred,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.
“The ACCC recognises the integrity of foreign exchange markets plays a fundamental role in our market economy.”
ANZ has admitted to 10 instances of attempted cartel conduct and Macquarie to eight.Submissions to the Federal Court have been made as follows:
- ACCC and ANZ have jointly submitted that ANZ pay a pecuniary penalty in the amount of $9 million and make a contribution to the ACCC’s costs; and
- ACCC and Macquarie have jointly submitted that Macquarie pay a pecuniary penalty in the amount of $6 million and make a contribution to the ACCC’s costs.
Ultimately it is for the Court to decide whether penalties in these amounts are appropriate and the ACCC will not make any further comment regarding penalties until the Court makes final orders.
Background
ABS benchmark rates are used as reference rates for settling non-deliverable forward contracts (NDFs). Non-deliverable currencies are not freely tradeable outside the domestic economy, so a benchmark rate must be set by banks submitting their views on the appropriate rate. That benchmark is used to enable trade in forward contracts. Banks and other institutions primarily use NDFs for hedging and risk management.The ABS MYR Fixing Rate would ultimately affect NDF settlement payments.
During the relevant period, the ABS MYR Fixing Rate was derived from submissions made each day by a panel of banks. The ABS Rules required this be done independently and without reference to other submitting banks.
ANZ was a submitting bank for the MYR. Macquarie was not a submitting bank however it often initiated discussions between traders.
The ACCC estimates that the annual MYR NDF turnover in Australia in 2011 was approximately $9 to 10 billion. ANZ and Macquarie’s customers included Australian companies.
