☰

Empresas y finanzas

JPMorgan settles foreign exchange price rigging lawsuit


    NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co has become the first bank to settle an antitrust lawsuit in which investors accused 12 major banks of rigging prices in the $5 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market.

    The settlement with the largest U.S. bank was disclosed on Monday in a letter from lawyers for JPMorgan and the plaintiffs, and filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

    Terms were not disclosed. A settlement agreement is expected to be filed with the court by the end of January.

    Investors including the city of Philadelphia and a group of hedge funds and public pension funds had accused the banks of conspiring since January 2003 to manipulate the benchmark WM/Reuters rates through chat rooms, instant messages and email.

    "The settlement is a responsible step by Chase in addressing its involvement in the forex trading," Michael Hausfeld, a lawyer for the investors, said in a phone interview. "It is a beginning with respect to the accountability of other banks engaged in the same trading."

    JPMorgan spokesman Brian Marchiony confirmed the settlement, but declined further comment.

    The case is In re: Foreign Exchange Benchmark Rates Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 13-07789.

    (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Grant McCool)