CMA launches investigation into suspected financial services cartel
The UK’s competition watchdog has launched an investigation into a possible financial services cartel, it announced today.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said its probe into the alleged anti-competitive activity was launched under Chapter One of the Competition Act 1998, which addresses price fixing and attempts to control markets.
The statement gave little detail on the investigation, which began on Tuesday, simply saying: “The case is at an early stage and no assumption should be made at this point that competition law has been infringed.
“The CMA has not reached a view as to whether there is sufficient evidence of an infringement of competition law for it to issue a statement of objections to any of the parties under investigation.”
Typically a statement of objections would allow the CMA to outline its preliminary conclusions, giving subjects of investigations time to respond before making a final decision.