9 banks agree to pay US$2b to settle forex rigging suit

New York

NINE major banks accused of foreign-exchange rigging have agreed to pay more than US$2 billion to investors in settlements, a law firm involved in the process said on Thursday.

Plaintiffs have "reached settlements totalling more than US$2 billion with Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citi, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan, RBS and UBS," legal firm Hausfeld said in a statement published after a hearing in New York. Hausfeld, which represented investors, gave no indication how the sum would be divided between the banks and said that the agreements were preliminary and must still be approved by US District Judge Lorna Schofield.