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IPFS News Link • Economy - Economics USA

Markit Credit-Swap Services Said to Be Part of Antitrust Probe

• Bloomberg
Markit Group Ltd., the data provider majority-owned by Wall Street’s largest banks, is under Justice Department scrutiny for potential anticompetitive practices ranging from requiring customers to buy bundled services to restricting which trades can be cleared in the $26 trillion credit-default swap market. The Justice Department said July 15 it was investigating users of credit-default swaps as U.S. lawmakers seek to regulate the $592 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market, which helped worsen the biggest financial calamity since the Great Depression. Trading in OTC contracts provides as much as 40 percent of profits for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, according to research firm CreditSights Inc. “Markit has been informed of an investigation by the Department of Justice into the credit-derivatives and related markets,” spokeswoman Teresa Chick said July 13 in an e-mailed statement in response to questions from Bloomberg News. Chick declined to comment last wee

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