Skip to contentSkip to footer
How we helped
The European Commission issued a Statement of Objections against our client IHS Markit, as well as ISDA and many Credit Default Swap (CDS) dealing banks, alleging that these firms had frustrated the development of central limit order book on-exchange trading of CDS indices. The Commission asserted that on-exchange trading would have increased liquidity and thus reduced bid-ask spreads. This matter was also subject to parallel investigations by the US Department of Justice.
Our economists wrote a detailed expert report and presented at the Oral Hearing at the European Commission, describing why the Commission’s theory of harm was inconsistent with how the CDS market worked and the large body of contemporaneous documents and market information.
After the Oral Hearing the European Commission dropped the various CDS dealing banks from its investigation and closed its investigation, after accepting commitments from IHS Markit and ISDA. No infringement finding was reached. The US Department of Justice also dropped its investigation.