Banks including Credit Suisse, UBS, Barclays, Credit Agricole, Bank of America and Deutsche Bank may face more than $6 billion in fines if they are found guilty of manipulating forex rates, SSA bonds and European Government Bonds in three different EU antitrust probes. The U.K. also opened a separate probe over anticompetitive practices in the bond market.
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Amazon.com is facing three antitrust investigations across Europe. Germany and Austria opened probes against the company in 4Q and the European Commission is conducting a preliminary investigation over Amazon’s use of third-party sellers’ data. A $5 billion fine similar to the one imposed on Google isn’t likely given Amazon’s revenue in the market, but what it is at stake here is more than just money.
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Payments are probably the first market where start-ups successfully challenged traditional banks. Companies such as Monzo, Revolut, TransferWise, Stripe or HiFx quickly gained market share for local and international payments offering low or no transaction fees. These new services obliged banks to adopt new digital strategies to remain competitive. Now, lending and wealth management are the next sectors where startups and digital platforms are quickly stepping up.
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It is still very far, but Google may have chances to succed in its $ 5 billion EU antitrust fine challenge in the General Court. This could increase the company’s 2022 net income by around 10%, based on consensus, and it would likely enhance the pre-installation of revenue-generating apps such as Google Search, Chrome or Youtube
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Uber’s labor costs in the U.K. are likely to raise after a court in London confirmed on 4Q that Uber’s drivers should be treated as “workers” and not self-employees. Although Uber may have to pay drivers more, this may indirectly secured its license to operate in London.
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MasterCard is defending at least 20 damage claims totalling about $2 billion filed by more than 2,000 retailers in the U.K. Five claims were filed in the Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”). The rest were filed in the U.K. High Court. The company’s swipe fees were found anticompetitive by the European Court of Justice in 2014 and recently by the U.K. Court of Appeal. Yet, the counterfactual played an important role to determine whether MasterCard’s fees could be justified under article 101.3 of the Treaty of Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
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