Big banks fail to stop US currency rigging lawsuit

New York

A FEDERAL judge on Wednesday said US investors may pursue a nationwide antitrust lawsuit accusing 12 major banks of rigging prices in the US$5.3 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market.

US District Judge Lorna Schofield in Manhattan rejected the defendants' arguments that the case should be dismissed because of a lack of evidence that they colluded to manipulate the WM/Reuters Closing Spot Rates, known as the Fix, or that they impeded competition and caused harm. "Fairly read, the US complaint adequately alleges that defendants engaged in a long-running conspiracy to manipulate the Fix to defendants' advantage," Judge Schofield wrote in a 30-page decision.