Lawsuit against big banks over rigging bond market dismissed

Banks
are off the hook on allegations that they colluded to rig a $9
trillion bond market.
Drew
Angerer/Getty Images

• A US judge has dismissed claims by investors that nine
  big banks colluded to rig the $9 trillion government agency
  bond market from 2005 to 2015
• The judge said investors failed to show they were
  harmed by any transactions tainted by the alleged
  collusion.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. judge has dismissed an antitrust
lawsuit by investors that accused nine big banks of rigging the
roughly $9 trillion government agency bond market from 2005 to
2015.

In a decision made public on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge
Edgardo Ramos in Manhattan said the investors failed to show they
were injured by conducting any specific transactions in U.S.
dollar-denominated supranational, sub-sovereign and agency bonds
that were tainted by the alleged collusion.

Investors led by the Iron Workers Pension Plan of Western
Pennsylvania and the Sheet Metal Workers Pension Plan of Northern
California said the banks used chatrooms and other means to share
pricing data and coordinate trading to boost profit, infecting
“each and every” transaction.

The defendants included Barclays Plc, BNP Paribas SA, Citigroup
Inc, Credit Agricole SA, Credit Suisse Group AG, HSBC Holdings
Plc, Nomura Holdings Inc, Royal Bank of Canada and
Toronto-Dominion Bank.

Dan Brockett, a lawyer for the investors, said his clients plan
to amend their complaint.

He also said Ramos’ decision, which is dated Aug. 24, does not
affect Deutsche Bank AG’s and Bank of America Corp’s respective
$48.5 million and $17 million settlements in the case in August
2017.

Ramos preliminarily approved those settlements in March.

The federal court in Manhattan is home to a wide array of private
litigation accusing banks of conspiring to rig various financial
markets, interest rate benchmarks and commodities.

The case is In re: SSA Bonds Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District
Court, Southern District of New York, No. 16-03711.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Jonathan
Oatis)