Commission confirmed that it undertook unannounced inspections at the premises of companies active in the sector of financial derivative products linked to the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (EURIBOR) in certain Member States. In addition, the Economic and Affairs Committee at the EP also announced a deal with the Polish presidency on the regulation beefing up standards and requirements for the practices of short selling and trading in credit default swaps (CDS), a financial product insuring against default.

The Commission has concerns that companies active in the sector of financial derivative products may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices (Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 53 of the Agreement on the European Economic Area). The European Commission confirmed that, starting on 18 October 2011, Commission officials undertook unannounced inspections at the premises of companies concerned linked to the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (EURIBOR) in certain Member States. Additionally, the Council recently reached an agreement to reduce risk in the over-the-counter derivatives market.

On the other hand, MEPs and the Polish Presidency during a meeting at the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee achieved a deal on the regulation beefing up standards and requirements for the practices of short selling and trading in credit default swaps (CDS), a financial product insuring against default. The rules will impose much more transparency, increase the powers of the EU's financial watchdog and virtually ban certain CDS trades, thereby making speculation on a country's default more difficult. Last June, the European Parliament approved a resolution in which called for more control over credit rating agencies and proposes a European Credit Rating Foundation.

The deal will get a ban naked CDS trading (purchasing default insurance contracts without owning the related bonds), with the sole exception of an option for a national authority to lift the ban temporarily in cases where its sovereign debt market is no longer functioning properly. Even this possibility would be closely circumscribed, because the text specifies a limited number of indicators which could justify the regulator's action. Moreover, within 24 hours, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) would publish an opinion on its web site as to the utility of suspending the ban. A negative opinion from ESMA would have a political weight. The agreement reached has still to be voted by the Council and the European Parliament.