Australia and New Zealand Banking Grp Ltd (ASX: ANZ), Citigroup Global Markets Australia Pty Limited and Deutsche Bank AG (ETR: DBK) and 6 of their executives have been committed to stand trial.
The banks plus John McLean, Rick Moscati, Michael Ormaechea, Michael Richardson, Stephen Roberts and Itay Tuchman face criminal charges of running a cartel.
NSW Local Court in Sydney on Tuesday committed the case to a trial in the Federal Court.
The allegations include making arrangements to run a cartel in 2015 in relation to trading ANZ shares held by the other two banks.
ANZ and each of the 6 executives are accused of knowingly being involved in the cartel conduct.
The charges arose after a Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) investigation.
ACCC chair Rod Sims declined to comment as the matter is now the subject of a criminal case.
If found guilty, corporations face a maximum fine of the greater of $10 million or 3 times the total benefits earned from the cartel conduct. If the benefits can't be calculated, it could be slugged 10% of its annual turnover in Australia.
The 6 executives each face 10 years' imprisonment, a $420,000 fine or both.
The Federal Court will hear the case at a date to be determined.
ANZ shares were up 0.26% on Tuesday, closing the day at $23.40.
