London’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has reportedly blocked a planned forex class action against JPMorgan, Citigroup, Barclays, UBS and NatWest on Thursday. According to Reuters, the multi-billion pound claim was brought by thousands of asset managers, pension funds and financial institutions over alleged forex rigging.
On Thursday, the court ruled that the case could not proceed as an opt-out class action in the US.
Over two forex cartels branded 'Essex Express' and 'Three-Way Banana Split', the European Commission fined banks a combined 1.11 billion euros ($1.11 billion) in 2019 in relation to the proposed lawsuit.
The former Chairman of Pensions Regulator, Michael O’Higgins and the former Competition Markets Authority inquiry Chairman, Phillip Evans had been vying to lead a class action on behalf of financial claimants.
“This decision is extremely disappointing because this claim is exactly the sort of claim that opt-out proceedings were introduced to facilitate in order to provide access to justice to all entities affected by the illegal behavior of cartelists. We are reviewing our options to decide how to move forward in a way that best serves the class that we seek to represent,” O’Higgins commented.
As of press time, banks involved in the case have not issued a statement addressing the matter.
HSBC and ECU Group Accusations
Last year, a currency manager, ECU Group, accused the multinational investment bank HSBC of fraud and misconduct within its forex trading desk between 2004 and 2006. An alleged ‘rotten culture’ allowed bankers to misuse confidential data during such a period.
In fact, the ECU Group claims that HSBC is responsible for having committed fraud related to 52 forex trades it placed with the bank in those years. The allegations were made in the context of a trial that expects to last for at least seven weeks. The banking giant denied all the claims made by the currency manager at the time.
