The WSJ reports that a new lawsuit was filed by 12 investors, all of whom had previously filed individual suits that have been consolidated by the courts into this one suit, amending and expanding upon a suit filed in November, 2013 by A Haverhill Retirement System (first mover advantage for the fund, as it was the first of these type suits filed). Most of the plaintiffs are public pension funds in the US and Virgin Islands, with 12 major banks charged with colluding to manipulate benchmark currency rates. Collusion is charged, based upon a " small and close-knit group of traders" using chat rooms and instant messaging, often having worked in previous jobs together, living in the same neighborhoods and socializing together.
Interestingly, the complaint did not quantify losses, calling the impact of the alleged manipulation "presently undetermined". We have looked at this issue as well, but on an industry-wide rather than an individual firm basis. The work requires many assumptions, particularly when there is no available data as to what, if anything, actually occurred on particular days. Thus, we assume that the plaintiffs will be seeking data from the banks and looking to what regulators unearth to help their case.
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