To resolve a lawsuit brought by American investors who claimed Societe Generale SA had broken the law by colluding with rivals to fix the important European interest rate benchmark Euribor, Societe Generale SA agreed to pay $105 million.
A preliminary settlement that needs a judge’s permission was submitted late Friday to the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
If the agreement is accepted, investors would have settled claims with seven banks for $651.5 million.
Banks like Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings Plc, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have previously reached settlements totaling $546.5 million.
The euro-denominated version of the previous Libor rate benchmark is called Euribor.
Investors, notably the California State Teachers’ Retirement System pension fund, claimed that from June 2005 to March 2011, banks fixed the prices of derivatives based on Euribor in order to make money off of investors’ investments.
According to court documents, Societe Generale denied misconduct while agreeing to settle.
Sullivan et al. v. Barclays Plc et al., U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 13-02811, is the matter at hand.
