Thursday, May 5, 2016

Banks Settle Interest Rate Manipulation Lawsuit

Seven banks have settled a class action lawsuit brought in the US regarding the ISDAfix. The ISDAfix is a benchmark rate used in daily pricing of trillions of US dollars in derivatives, including interest rate swaps, futures and exchange traded options. The seven are JP Morgan, RBS, Deutsche, Credit Suisse, Barclay's, Citi and BOA.

The lead law firm, Scott + Scott, is the same as in the FX benchmark manipulation class action suit. The charges are similar to the FX suit and to the LIBOR charges as well. The charges included placing numerous orders at the close ("banging the close"), collusion leading to to submission of identical orders and placing off-market rates. Eight other banks remain in the suit. If this follows the trajectory of the FX suit, banks that settle later will tend to pay larger settlements.

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