Barclays Plc agreed to pay $120 million to settle private US litigation accusing it of conspiring with rivals to rig the benchmark interest rate known as Libor, lawyers for the plaintiffs said on Friday.
The British bank is the first to resolve claims by so-called “over-the-counter” investors that transacted directly with banks comprising a panel to determine Libor, or the London Interbank Offered Rate.
Libor is used to set rates on hundreds of trillions of dollars of transactions, including for credit cards, student loans and mortgages. Banks use it determine the cost of borrowing from one another.
Sixteen banks were accused in the private litigation that began in 2011 of conspiring to manipulate the benchmark.
“This is a very good settlement for the class,” Hilary Scherrer, a partner at Hausfeld LLP representing the plaintiffs, said in an interview. “It is an icebreaker that could open up this litigation to future settlements.”
Full content: Gulf News
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