Weekly Global News Wrap: World's ten largest banks sued for rigging US bond market; Banks want Europe to mimic US capital easing

And Credit Suisse gets approval to take a majority stake in a Chinese investment bank.

From Reuters:

Ten of the world’s largest banks, including JPMorgan and Bank of America, have been sued for allegedly conspiring over nearly 14 years to fix prices in the $9.6t US corporate bond market.

The proposed class action filed on Tuesday in a Manhattan federal court said the banks have violated antitrust law by overcharging investors on “odd-lot” trades, which are worth less than $1m and comprise 90% of all corporate bond trading, since August 2006.

Other defendants include Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Scotland and Wells Fargo, or their respective affiliates.

From Reuters:

Banks are calling on European regulators to match the US Federal Reserve’s plan to relax a rule that measures a bank’s capital reserves to promote the flow of cash to coronavirus-hit firms.

Temporarily easing the ratio in Europe would ensure that relief packages from governments and central banks to help the economy recover work well in practice, said European Banking Federation senior director of prudential policy and supervision Gonzalo Gasos.

European regulators are already allowing banks to tap into a capital reserve, known as a counter-cyclical capital buffer, to keep credit flowing.

From Reuters:

Credit Suisse has received regulatory approval to take a majority stake in its Chinese investment banking joint venture, the bank said in a statement on Friday.

It is the latest international investment bank to receive approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commision (CSRC), after the rules limiting foreign banks to 49% ownership of their China operations were eased in 2018.

The Swiss bank will increase its stake in Credit Suisse Founder Securities from 33.3% to 51% through capital injection.

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