Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: UBS agrees to pay $135 million to settle forex action, (Mar 16, 2015)
Law Firms Mentioned:Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP | Hausfeld LLP
Organizations Mentioned:Gibson Dunn | Hausfeld, LLP | JPMorgan Chase | UBS AG, UBS Group AG, and UBS Securities LLC | UBS Group, AG | UBS Securities, LLC | UBS, AG
UBS AG, UBS Group AG, and UBS Securities LLC (collectively, UBS) have agreed to settle an antitrust lawsuit alleging that UBS was among a dozen major banks that colluded to manipulate prices on the foreign exchange market (In re Foreign Exchange Benchmark Rate Antitrust Litigation, No. 13-cv-7789).
According to a complaint filed against the banks in 2013, traders at the banks colluded to manipulate the global standard WM/Reuters Rates for determining exchange rates for different currencies, resulting in profit for the banks at the expense of their clients. The WM/Reuters Rates serve as a benchmark settlement price for trading in 158 currencies, and are employed extensively in the operation of financial markets for uses such as valuing portfolios and funds that track global indexes and as a benchmark for currencies in contracts.
Hausfeld LLP announced on March 13 that UBS will pay $135 million to settle the claims. UBS will also provide the plaintiffs with substantial cooperation in the prosecution of the litigation against the remaining banks.
Various authorities have opened investigations into possible manipulation of the $5.3 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market, including the Department of Justice, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Singapore Monetary Authority, and European Union antitrust regulators.
The settlement follows a $99.5 million settlement with JPMorgan Chase & Co announced in a letter submitted to the federal district court in New York City. JPMorgan and five other banks previously reached a $4.3 billion settlement with U.S. and European regulators.
Attorneys: Michael D. Hausfeld, William P. Butterfield, Reena A. Gambhir, Timothy S. Kearns, and Nathaniel C. Giddings (Hausfeld LLP) for Class Plaintiffs and the Class. Peter Sullivan (Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP) for UBS AG.
Companies: UBS AG, UBS Group AG, and UBS Securities LLC
News: Antitrust