Bank of America and other leading financial institutions fired back at claims in Manhattan federal court that they manipulated the US$119 billion Mexican government bond market, claiming the lawsuit doesn’t establish a conspiracy or any link to the US.
“This flailing attempt to convert foreign conduct into domestic jurisdiction fails,” the banks claimed in a February 21 motion, reported Bloomberg.
The multidistrict suit accuses them of colluding to narrow the spread between what they pay for the bonds and what they get for them, including by rigging auctions. The lawsuit also targets affiliates of Banco Santander, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, HSBC Holdings, Barclays, Bank of America NA, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse Group, and ING Groep.
The lawsuit followed an investigation announced by Mexico’s Federal Commission for Economic Competition, or Cofece, in April 2017, into possible breaches of competition laws in the public debt market.
Cofece described the probe as its largest investigation into public debt sales and reflected the Mexican government’s efforts to increase market oversight.
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