Bank of America, Citigroup, and four other banks reached a settlement on the lawsuit regarding manipulation of European bond prices
Bank of America and Citigroup, along with four other banks, have agreed to pay $80 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit filed in New York. These banks were accused of conspiring to manipulate the prices of European government bonds. They allegedly used tactics such as bidding high in bond auctions through online chat rooms to ensure market dominance, and then selling the bonds at inflated prices to mutual funds, pension funds, insurance companies, and other investors. The six banks have denied any wrongdoing and agreed to settle. The settlement agreement is subject to approval by a judge, and once approved, the lawsuit will be resolved with a settlement amount of $120 million
According to the financial news app Zhitong Finance, six banks, including Bank of America (BAC.US) and Citigroup (C.US), have agreed to pay $80 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit filed in New York. These banks were accused of conspiring to manipulate the prices of European government bonds.
Preliminary settlement agreements with Bank of America, Citigroup, Jefferies (JEF.US), NatWest (NWG.US), Nomura (NMR.US), and UBS (UBS.US) were submitted to the Manhattan federal court late on Friday and require approval from the judge.
Investors led by three public pension funds accused the banks of collusion, alleging that they colluded by bidding high in bond auctions through means such as online chat rooms to ensure dominant market share, and then selling the bonds at inflated prices to mutual funds, pension funds, insurance companies, and other investors.
The alleged collusion took place between 2007 and 2012. All six banks have denied any wrongdoing and agreed to settle.
Once approved, Friday's settlement agreement will end the litigation with a settlement amount of $120 million. Previously, JPMorgan Chase (JPM.US), Societe Generale, State Street, and UniCredit had reached settlements totaling $40 million.
This case is part of over a decade of litigation in the Manhattan court, with lawsuits alleging collusion by banks in various markets including U.S. Treasuries, foreign exchange, commodities, and interest rate benchmarks