Three banks and six bank executives were committed for trial yesterday on criminal charges of alleged cartel conduct.
Facing committal proceedings in the NSW Local Court were: ANZ; Citigroup Global Markets Australia; Deutsche Bank; and executives Rick Moscati (former ANZ treasurer and still in an executive role at the bank), Michael Ormaechea and Michael Richardson (Deutsche), Stephen Roberts (former Citi country head), Itay Tuchman and John McLean (Citi).
The charges, which will be tried in the Federal Court, allege cartel arrangements in 2015 relating to trading in ANZ shares held by Deutsche Bank and Citi.
The charges were first made in 2018, following an ACCC investigation. The alleged cartel conduct took place following a A$2.5 billion ANZ institutional share placement.
The placement did not go to plan, with some institutions saying the offer price was too high, and the underwriters were left with close to $800 million of shares.
The banks are alleged to have formed a cartel to restrict the supply of ANZ shares to maintain their price after the placement.
JP Morgan, which underwrote the placement with Citi and Deutsche Bank was not charged.