the EU inspection points include 16 global banking giants, as well as other related institutions of the EU competition authorities which investigate activities of the nine largest banks in the world of the market for credit default swaps (CDS).The CDS are a form of insurance policy taken out on financial instruments, such as bonds, if they lose value.
The banks are Barclays Bank, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup.
The probe centers on whether preferential treatment - special low fees - was given by a clearing house, drum up business.
The other five banks are Bank of America, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and UBS.
Anti-trust the EU Commissioner, Joaquín Almunia, said in a statement: "The CDS play a useful role for financial markets and the economy."
"The recent developments have shown however that trade in this asset class has a number of inefficiencies that cannot be solved by regulation alone."
The value of the CDS - said that in the region of $28 trillion (£ 17tn) dwarfs the value of the instruments, which you to be based.
As well as insurance against a bond go bad provide, will have actually trade with CDS, to make money without also CDS for speculation, with banks and hedge funds the underlying bonds used.
During the height of the financial crisis, there were market concerns that prices reduces speculation in CDS for bonds and fueling panic.
The European Commission were explained that whether the nine major investment banks of the Clearing House of ICE clear Europe receive special treatment, and give only their business on ice explores,
The Commission said: "the impact of these agreements could be that other clearing houses difficulties successfully in the market and the other CDS player no real choices where you disable their transactions."
The nine banks are shareholders in the ice's clearing arm.
Preferential treatment?In a separate case, the Commission said it examined was whether these nine banking and the seven others that, which is only Markit Group Ltd. the leading provider of financial data market as dealers in the CDS market - essential information about the pricing and other daily activities.
Such preferential treatment "could the result of collusion between them or an abuse of a possible collective dominance" and locks could other data providers of the CDS business, said the Commission.
Seven other companies set up in this checkpoint: BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Wells Fargo, Crédit Agricole and Société Générale.
All 16 banks, which control about 90% of the market where banks deal with each other, are shareholders of the Markit.
Markit holds a near monopoly on financial data which says the EU smaller competitors with poor information on pricing leave could.
Market, players insist however that no conclusive for such a connection evidence.
Markit said Friday it "do not believe it deals in any inappropriate conduct, and looks forward to proof, that the Commission".
A spokeswoman for IntercontinentalExchange said that the company would cooperate with the investigation.
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