The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has certified a class action against a collection of global banks in order to facilitate a settlement with three of the banks over alleged manipulation of foreign exchange (FX) benchmarks.
The court was asked to certify the case as a class action against three of the banks — UBS AG, UBS Securities LLC and UBS Bank (Canada) (collectively, UBS); BNP Paribas Group, BNP Paribas North America, Inc., BNP Paribas (Canada), and BNP Paribas (collectively, BNP); and Bank of America Corporation, Bank of America, N.A., Bank of America Canada, and Bank of America National Association (collectively Bank of America) — in order to allow a settlement.
The settlement is, “… a compromise of disputed claims and UBS, BNP, and Bank of America do not admit any wrongdoing or liability,” the decision says.
UBS has agreed to pay $4.95 million, BNP has agreed to pay $4.5 million and Bank of America has agreed to pay $6.5 million to settle the class action.
The court granted the certification order, which defines the members of the class and the issue, appoints the plaintiff, Christopher Staines, as the representative of the class, and approves the plan for notifying investors who may be covered by the settlement.
The order defines the class of affected investors as anyone in Canada who, between Jan. 1, 2003 and Dec. 31, 2013, entered into an FX instrument either directly or indirectly, and/or purchased an investment product, such as a mutual fund, hedge fund, pension fund or other investment vehicle, that entered into an FX trade with one of the banks involved.
The certification for settlement purposes does not affect the case against the remaining defendants. The case alleges that the banks conspired with each other to fix prices in the FX market. Those allegations have not been proven. The court decision notes that similar litigation has been launched in Quebec.