EU targets dealers with CDS anti-competition probes

Has the European Commission forgotten that dealers supply prices not only to Markit but also to a similar CDS consensus pricing service run by Fitch Solutions? Dealers are very aware of the risk of giving one data provider a monopoly position. This is exactly why they encouraged and financed the creation of Markit in the first place – because they were concerned about the stranglehold that Lombard Risk seemed to have over price collection and distribution in the early years of the market. If dealers felt Markit was abusing its position, they would quickly move to encourage another competitor. Traders do not care a jot that their bank has a small stake in Markit locked away in some half-forgotten fund.
The second investigation – into clearing – is transparently political. Nobody believes there is space for more than one European CDS clearer at the moment. The question is: who should run it? European Union officials have been desperate to encourage a home-grown clearing solution, rather than one that answers to a company based in Atlanta.