LONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) – Major banks including JPMorgan, UBS and Citigroup on Thursday won their bid to block a 2.7 billion-pound ($3.6 billion) mass lawsuit over alleged foreign exchange rigging.
Phillip Evans, a former inquiry chair at Britain’s Competition Markets Authority, was leading the case on behalf of thousands of asset managers, pension funds and financial institutions.
The lawsuit, which was also brought against Barclays, MUFG and NatWest, was based on findings made by the European Commission, which fined banks more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in 2019.
Some of the world’s biggest investment banks have paid more than a combined $11 billion in fines to settle U.S., British and European regulatory allegations that traders manipulated currency rates for years.
Evans’ case was initially blocked in 2022 by the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), which refused to certify it on an opt-out basis, meaning members of the claimant class would be part of the case unless they decided otherwise.
The CAT said the case could be brought on an opt-in basis, though it accepted that would effectively end the litigation.
Evans’ case was revived by the Court of Appeal in 2023, but the banks’ appeal was upheld by the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court on Thursday.
Judge Vivien Rose said the Competition Appeal Tribunal “was right to assess the merits of the claim as weak”.
She added that some members of the claimant class may have a viable claim, but they had shown no interest in pursuing it and represented “a tiny fraction” of the case’s value.
UBS and MUFG welcomed the ruling. JPMorgan and Barclays declined to comment. Citi and NatWest did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Evans said in a statement that he would consider “what options remain available to pursue justice for those affected”.
“The practical reality is that opt-in proceedings are unlikely to deliver meaningful redress for the tens of thousands of ordinary individuals and businesses affected by the banks’ unlawful conduct,” he said.
($1 = 0.7493 pounds)
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by William James, Kirsten Donovan)
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