By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Six banks including Bank of America and Citigroup agreed to pay $80 million to settle antitrust litigation in New York accusing them of conspiring to rig prices of European government bonds.
A preliminary settlement with Bank of America, Citigroup, Jefferies, NatWest, Nomura and UBS was filed late Friday in Manhattan federal court, and requires a judge’s approval.
Investors led by three public pension funds accused the banks of having colluded, including in online chatrooms, to bid high prices at bond auctions to ensure a dominant market share, and then to sell the bonds at inflated prices to mutual funds, pension funds, insurers and other investors.
The alleged collusion occurred between 2007 and 2012. All six banks denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.
Friday’s settlements would upon approval end the litigation, with $120 million of settlements. JPMorgan Chase, Natixis, State Street and UniCredit previously settled for a combined $40 million.
The case is part of more than a decade of litigation in the Manhattan court accusing banks of colluding in various markets including U.S. Treasuries, currencies and commodities, as well as on interest rate benchmarks.
The case is In re European Government Bonds Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 19-02601.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Stephen Coates)