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(Alliance News) - The European Court of Justice upheld the annulment of a EUR33.6 million fine imposed on HSBC Holdings PLC, despite the bank's infringement of EU competition law with cartel behaviour, according to a court statement on Thursday.
In 2016, the European Commission imposed the fine after finding that three banks - HSBC, Credit Agricole SA and JPMorgan Chase & Co - illegally colluded to set interest rates for the Euribor benchmark rate used on international capital markets.
HSBC appealed the fine to the EU General Court, the bloc's second highest court, and successfully argued in 2019 that the basis for calculating the fine was flawed.
The EU General Court agreed however with the commission that HSBC had infringed EU competition law. HSBC appealed this finding.
The ECJ ruling has now agreed with the lower chamber that the fine is to be annulled but dismissed HSBC's legal action against the decision from the EU General Court that the bank took part in the cartel at issue, the ECJ statement said.
source: dpa
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