Royal Bank of Scotland fined $43 million for sharing price information with Barclays

Royal Bank of Scotland fined for competition lapse

LONDON — Royal Bank of Scotland PLC has been fined 28.6 million pounds ($43 million) for violating competition laws by sharing price data with rival Barclays PLC, the Office for Fair Trading said Tuesday.

The agency said individuals in RBS’s Professional Practices Coverage Team had disclosed generic as well as specific confidential future pricing information to counterparts at Barclays Bank, and that the information was used by Barclays to set its own prices.

“The disclosures by RBS took place in the course of a number of contacts on the fringes of social, client or industry events or through telephone conversations,” the OFT said.

“The information concerned the pricing of loan products to large professional services firms, such as solicitors, accountancy and real estate firms, in respect of which RBS and Barclays are the main providers.

“As well as general disclosures on future pricing, the investigation found that RBS had supplied specific confidential future pricing information in relation to two proposed loan facilities.”

The fine was reduced from 33.6 million pounds because RBS, now effectively owned by the government, cooperated with investigators, the agency said.

RBS said it had introduced more training on competition law to insure that there was no repeat of the offense.

“This is a deeply regrettable and isolated case from nearly two years ago, involving only two members of staff, one of whom has left the bank and one other who faces suspension and further investigation now the case has been settled,” RBS said in a statement.

Barclays brought the issue to the attention of authorities and is not expected to face any fines, the agency added.