On Thursday, major banks, including JPMorgan, UBS, and Citigroup, won their bid to stop a 2.7 billion-pound ($3.6 billion) collective lawsuit alleging foreign exchange manipulation.
Leading the argument on behalf of thousands of asset managers, pension funds, and financial institutions was Phillip Evans, a former inquiry chair of Britain’s Competition Markets Authority.
Based on conclusions from the European Commission, which penalized banks more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in 2019, the complaint was also filed against Barclays, MUFG, and NatWest.
To resolve regulatory claims in the United States, Britain, and Europe that traders had been manipulating currency rates for years, some of the largest investment banks in the world have paid fines totaling more than $11 billion.
The Competition Appeal Tribunal first halted Evans’ case in 2022 by refusing to certify it on an opt-out basis, which would have included members of the claimant class unless they made a different decision.
Although it acknowledged that this would essentially put an end to the litigation, the CAT stated that the matter might be brought on an opt-in basis.
The Court of Appeal renewed Evans’ case in 2023, but the UK Supreme Court upheld the banks’ appeal on Thursday.
The Competition Appeal Tribunal was right to assess the merits of the claim as weak, according to Judge Vivien Rose.
She went on to say that while some members of the claimant class could have a strong claim, they constituted “a tiny fraction” of the case’s worth and had shown no interest in pursuing it.
MUFG and UBS applauded the decision. Barclays and JPMorgan declined to comment. A request for comment was not immediately answered by Citi or NatWest.
Evans promised to take into account “what options remain available to pursue justice for those affected” in a statement.
“The practical reality is that opt-in proceedings are unlikely to deliver meaningful redress for the tens of thousands of ordinary individuals and businesses affected by the banks’ unlawful conduct,” he stated.
