(Adds details, ISDA comment)
By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS, Dec 4 (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators havedropped charges against 13 banks including Citigroup andDeutsche Bank for blocking exchanges from derivativesmarkets, but will continue their case against data companyMarkit and trade body ISDA.
The European Commission said on Friday it had closed thecase against the 13 banks due to insufficient evidence.
"This closure does not prejudge the outcome of theCommission's investigation regarding Markit, and ISDA, which isongoing," it said in a statement.
Opened two years ago, the case was one of several launchedby the EU's executive into financial services in the wake of the2007-8 crisis. Regulators have handed down billions of euros infines on lenders since then for misbehaving.
The Commission in July 2013 charged the group with blockingDeutsche Boerse from the lucrative credit derivativesmarket in 2007 and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in 2008.
"ISDA believes it has acted properly at all times. We willcontinue to cooperate with regulatory authorities to resolvethis matter," a spokesman told Reuters.
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA)represents firms involved in the derivatives market.
Markit was not immediately available to comment.
The 13 banks are Bank of America Merrill Lynch,Barclays, Bear Stearns, BNP Paribas,Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley,Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS.
Three years ago, the Commission also scrapped a case againstnine banks related to derivatives clearing because it did nothave enough proof of wrongdoing. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Additional reporting by Huw Jones;Editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Mark Potter)