The Wall Street Journal’s Christina Rexrode broke the news yesterday that Bank of America will pay $180 million to settle a lawsuit by private investors who accused the bank and others of manipulating Forex rates.
The bank’s decision to agree to settle comes after rivals J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and UBS AG had agreed to settle with the same investors. Yesterday, we heard news that Barlclays increased their allotment of funds for it’s potential settlement in a similar suit over FX rigging stemming from last year.
Regulators around the globe have been investigating whether banks manipulated FX benchmark rates, overcharged and front-ran customer orders in collusion with other dealers to exploit and milk commissions. Bank of America made its latest disclosure in a regulatory filing Wednesday. The bank said that the cost of settling the lawsuit would be covered by existing reserves.
The settlement details unveiled involves a lawsuit filed in late 2013 by pension funds and other investors. The suit accused traders at a dozen banks of improperly sharing confidential information about their clients’ orders via electronic chat rooms, then using that information to make money at the expense of their clients.
The WSJ piece said that Connecticut-based law firm Scott + Scott, is representing investors. The news of an agreement in principle with Bank of America was announced earlier this month but the amount was not disclosed until now.
To read the WSJ article, click here.