Major banks Citigroup Inc. Deutsche Bank AG and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. will all face "criminal cartel charges" in Australia, the country's consumer watchdog said Friday. Prosecutors in the country are expected to bring the charges against those financial institutions as well as a number of individuals as a result of an investigation, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in a statement. "The charges will involve alleged cartel arrangements relating to trading in ANZ shares following an ANZ institutional share placement in August 2015," ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said, in a statement. "It will be alleged that ANZ and the individuals were knowingly concerned in some or all of the conduct." The charges are believed to stem from a placement of 80.8 million shares by ANZ that was underwritten by Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and JP Morgan according to a BBC report. . None of the banks could immediately be reached for comment.