Five Banks Face Lawsuit In Australia for FX Collusion
finews asia, 27 May 2019
UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland are among five banks named in a class action lawsuit in Australia relating to collusion on foreign-exchange strategies.
Australian law firm Maurice Blackburn on Monday filed a class-action lawsuit against the five international investment banks, accusing them of colluding to rig foreign exchange rates during 2008-2013 so they can profit. They are UBS, Barclays Bank, Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and J.P. Morgan.
The five banks are accused of colluding to increase the price clients paid for certain investment products in order to fix exchange rates at more costly levels, according to Australian court documents. «Australian businesses and investors, particularly medium to large importers, exporters, institutional investors and businesses with operations overseas, have been affected by the distortion of the FX market by these banks,» said Maurice Blackburn principal lawyer Kimi Nishimura in a statement.
