US: Banks want consolidated forex case trashed

A US judge heard a request from several of the world’s largest banks to toss out a consolidated antitrust lawsuit against the lenders, which are accused of rigging the foreign exchange market.

The twelve banks, which include Bank of America, Barclays and Goldman Sachs, asked a US district judge to dismiss the case because the plaintiffs did not properly allege that the banks partook in a conspiracy.

The plaintiffs are various investors who accuse the lenders of manipulating the $5-trillion-a-day foreign exchange market since January 2003 by colluding through online chat rooms, email and instant messaging. But in a joint filing, the banks claimed “the complaints do not plead a single fact about a single instance in which a single defendant engaged in even one concerted act to manipulate any particular currency rate.”

The lawsuit is only part of a global crackdown on alleged market-rigging; the latest claims of foreign exchange rigging is now being probed by various regulators that have also had to sanction banks for their alleged roles in LIBOR and Euribor manipulation.

Full content: Reuters

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