Barclays must face U.S. class action over Libor

From Reuters –

“Barclays Plc shareholders who accused the British bank in a lawsuit of inflating its stock price by manipulating the interest rate known as Libor may pursue their case as a class action, a U.S. judge ruled on Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan, whose May 2013 dismissal of the case was overturned by an appeals court, said the claims were similar enough to justify letting the shareholders sue as a group.

She nonetheless said in a 77-page decision that the shareholders face "significant obstacles" to proving damages, including over whether any stock price inflation had dissipated once Barclays started reporting Libor accurately.

Class actions make it easier for plaintiffs to recover larger sums at lower costs than if they sue individually.

Barclays spokesman Marc Hazelton declined to comment.”

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World's big banks set to be sued in London over forex rigging

From The Independent –

“The world’s biggest banks face being pursued through the UK civil courts this autumn for billions of pounds in compensation payments for the actions of its traders in rigging foreign exchange rates.

Five multinational banks – which include Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and HSBC – agreed this week to pay off aggrieved investors in order to settle a class action brought in New York.

They joined four other global banks that settled earlier in the year. The total compensation pledged to investors, which are made up of hedge funds and pension funds, has now reached $2bn, according to Hausfeld, the law firm that brought the case on behalf of the investors.”

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BlueCrest Sued in U.S. as Libor Fallout Ensnares Hedge Fund

From Bloomberg –

“BlueCrest Capital Management was sued by a group of investment firms over claims an employee at the hedge fund run by billionaire Michael Platt conspired with banks to rig the Swiss franc Libor rate.

The allegations closely follow information disclosed by the New York Department of Financial Services in April as part of a record $2.5 billion fine against Deutsche Bank AG. The lawsuit cites a transcript released by regulators that indicated a BlueCrest employee asked a Deutsche Bank director to contribute a low interest rate to Libor submissions.

BlueCrest and other defendants “rearranged their Swiss franc Libor-based derivatives desks to encourage cooperation among traders,” investors said in the lawsuit filed June 19 in federal court in Manhattan.”

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