A decades-old partnership between Deutsche Börse andNasdaq has drawn fresh scrutiny from Brussels. The European Commission haslaunched an antitrust investigation into possible collusion between the twostock exchange operators over Nordic derivatives, alleging the firms may haverestricted competition through a 1999 cooperation agreement, the Financial Times reported.Join buy side heads of FX in London at fmls25The probe, announced on Thursday, sent Deutsche Börseshares down as much as 7.3% before recovering part of the loss. By earlyafternoon, the stock was still down around 4% in Frankfurt. Nasdaq sharesslipped 0.3% in pre-market trading in New York.Commission Concerned About Market CollusionThe European Commission said it suspects DeutscheBörse and Nasdaq may have coordinated to avoid competing in the listing,trading, and clearing of certain derivatives.Regulators are also examiningwhether the firms shared sensitive commercial information or allocated demandbetween them. The investigation follows unannounced inspectionsconducted at both exchange groups in September 2024.The focus of the probe is a 1999 cooperation agreementbetween Eurex, Deutsche Börse’s derivatives arm, and the Finnish derivativesexchange HEX, which later became part of Nasdaq. Under the arrangement, Eurexhandled the trading of the most liquid derivatives, while HEX marketed Eurexproducts and memberships in the Nordic and Baltic regions.You may also like: My Forex Funds Outlines 2025–2026 Roadmap as Prop Firm Signals ReturnDeutsche Börse said the partnership had been intendedto “deepen liquidity” and “create efficiencies” in the Nordic market,describing it as a pro-competitive initiative that benefited investors. Thecompany added that the agreement had been public and reviewed by the EuropeanCommission at the time. The cooperation ended in 2023. Nasdaq echoed that stance, saying the agreement hadbeen lawful and transparent. Potential Fines and Financial ImpactWhile the European Commission can impose fines of upto 10% of a company’s global revenue, which would amount to around €600 millionfor Deutsche Börse, analysts believe the financial risk is limited.Citibank analysts estimated that the 1999 Eurex-HEXcooperation generated about €5 million annually for Eurex, suggesting anypotential penalty would likely be modest relative to Deutsche Börse’s overallbusiness.Deutsche Börse operates the Frankfurt Stock Exchangeand Eurex, Europe’s largest derivatives marketplace. Nasdaq, which absorbed HEXthrough a series of mergers in the 2000s, remains one of the world’s biggestexchange operators.With the investigation only at an early stage, bothexchange groups are preparing for what could become a lengthy process testingthe boundaries of market cooperation in Europe.This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.