Barclays, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and three other banks have been targeted in a class action lawsuit, worth £1bn, over foreign exchange (forex) rigging, filed yesterday.

The lawsuit comes after a ruling in May from the European Commission (EC), which found that Barclays, RBS, Citibank, UBS and JP Morgan had violated European Union competition law by rigging the forex trading markets.

Collectively, the five banks have been fined more than €8.5bn (£6.9bn) by 11 global regulators. The EC claimed the banks coordinated their trading strategies via two cartels, sharing commercially sensitive information and trading plans.

The claim is being brought through the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) as a collective action on an opt-out basis, meaning that all members will be included automatically, with former Pensions Regulator chair Michael O’Higgins acting as the class representative.

Working out of their London office, US law firm Scott + Scott is bringing the claim with backing from litigation funder Therium. The law firm obtained over $2.3bn in settlements after a class action involving 15 banks in America for forex rigging, which received final approval in August 2018.

MoneyAge has contacted those banks involved and offered them the opportunity to comment. Barclays, RBS and UBS declined, while Citibank and JP Morgan have yet to respond.

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