In a concrete application of the principles expressed by the Court of Cassation, the Court of Appeal of Trieste ordered an Office Technical Consultant (OTC) to recalculate the entire financial repayment plan of a loan agreement with an interest rate clause that had been declared null and void.
As is now well known, in its decision of 4 December 2013, the European Antitrust Commission (the “Commission“) found that the fixing of the Euribor rate between 29 September 2005 and 30 May 2008 was unlawful because it had been manipulated by a pool of banks. In particular, the Commission sanctioned the banks involved – Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Société Générale and RBS – for the illegal agreement that developed in the context of EIRDs (Euro interest rate derivatives). These financial products are used to manage the risk of interest rate fluctuations and their value is linked to the evolution of a reference interest rate, such as the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) or the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (EURIBOR). The Commission concluded that the cartel, through the exchange of information, affected the normal functioning of the EIRD market by raising EURIBOR in order to favour the circulation of derivative products at a distorted price.
Exactly 10 years later… Read more
