ICE LIBOR Investor Lawsuits
Last Updated on July 3, 2019
Important Information
Attorneys working with ClassAction.org are no longer investigating this matter. The information here is for reference only. A list of open investigations and lawsuits can be viewed here.
At A Glance
- This Alert Affects:
- Anyone who received payment from a bank based on an interest rate indexed to a USD ICE LIBOR benchmark rate that was set any time since February 1, 2014.
- What’s Going On?
- It’s believed that a group of banks has illegally manipulated the financial benchmark Intercontinental Exchange London Interbank Offered Rate (ICE LIBOR) and has set ICE LIBOR rates lower than what they should have been over the past five years.
- Does This Mean Investors Are Owed Money?
- Attorneys believe investors who purchased certain financial instruments lost money based on the banks’ alleged manipulation of the ICE LIBOR. Lawsuits are now being filed to help investors recover their potential losses.
Attorneys working with ClassAction.org are no longer investigating this matter. I you have any questions about your legal rights, contact an attorney in your area. The inforamtion below is for reference only.
Attorneys are seeking to file class action lawsuits against a group of banks suspected of engaging in anticompetitive manipulation of the financial benchmark Intercontinental Exchange London Interbank Offered Rate (ICE LIBOR).
It’s believed that investors who purchased certain floating-rate financial instruments indexed to ICE LIBOR may have been underpaid by the banks. Read on for more.
What’s Going On?
ICE LIBOR is the most widely used floating interest rate for financial instruments and is understood to be based on the interest rates high-credit quality banks charge each other for short-term financing.
Recently, however, the Federal Reserve reported that ICE LIBOR, represented as an official rate-setting benchmark, is actually based on a “minuscule” number of underlying transactions (with some days on which no transactions occur at all) instead of a functioning market. It’s suspected that banks have secretly been able to manipulate the LIBOR by consistently lowballing their submissions to ICE.
In the past, the LIBOR rate was set by the British Banks Association (BBA) using a nearly identical process to the one used by ICE. ICE took the reins from BBA after it was revealed that banks had been manipulating the LIBOR and were forced to pay millions in fines and settlements. Now, it’s suspected that the illegal manipulation is happening again, to the detriment of investors.
Attorneys believe investors can now file lawsuits against these banks to recover money they may have lost due to the alleged interest rate manipulation.
Which Banks Are Being Sued in the Lawsuits?
It’s suspected that the following banks have engaged in illegal ICE LIBOR manipulation:
- Bank of America
- Citibank
- JP Morgan
- Barclays
- BNP Paribas
- Credit Agricole
- Credit Suisse
- Deutsche Bank
- HSBC
- Lloyds Bank
- MUFG
- Norinchukin
- Rabobank
- RBC
- RBS
- Société Générale
- Sumitomo
- UBS
How Do I Know If I’ve Lost Money?
Attorneys believe there’s a chance you’ve lost money if you received payment from one of the above banks since February 1, 2014 for certain financial instruments with interest rates indexed to a USD ICE LIBOR benchmark rate.
Even if you purchased one of these financial instruments – including floating-rate notes, other debt instruments (such as certificates of deposit, Yankee CDs, bank notes, senior unsecured notes, subordinated bonds, debentures, preferred stock, trust preferred securities, capital securities, hybrid securities, and covered bonds), and interest rate swaps – before February 1, 2014 but received a payment after that date, attorneys suspect that you may have been affected by the alleged LIBOR manipulation.
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