Australian cartel case collapse raises questions of regulatory overreach

For four years, a criminal case brought by an Australian regulator against Citi, Deutsche Bank, ANZ and six bankers who were facing jail has looked ill-judged, acting retrospectively against common market practice in a share placement. Now it has collapsed and lessons need to be learned

The collapse of a criminal cartel case against Citi, Deutsche Bank and ANZ and six of their bankers in Australia is no surprise, and looks like four years wasted for considerable pain and little gain.

From the very outset, the decision to bring criminal rather than civil proceedings against individuals as well as institutions over an unclear area around the marketing of a share placement looked like regulatory overkill.

Here’s the background. In August 2015, a A$2.5