Foreign Exchange Manipulation

The law firms of Koskie Minsky LLP, Sotos LLP, Siskinds LLP, and CFM Lawyers LLP (“Class Counsel”) are prosecuting a class action against financial institutions (the “Defendants”) who allegedly conspired among themselves to fix, raise, maintain, stabilize, control, or enhance unreasonably the price of currency purchased in the foreign exchange or foreign currency market (the “FX Market”), and to fix, maintain, control, prevent, lessen, eliminate, or unduly lessen the supply of foreign currencies on the FX Market.

Beginning at least as early as 2003 and continuing through 2013, it is alleged that the Defendants conspired with each other to fix prices in the FX Market.

As detailed below, many of the Defendants settled these claims early.  These Defendants do not admit to wrongdoing.  On April 14, 2020, Justice Perell of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice certified this action as a class proceeding against the Defendants who had not yet settled.

New Settlements

The approved settlements to date are listed below. Class Counsel have obtained new settlements that require court approval. These settlements total approximately $23.8 million and, if approved, would resolve all outstanding claims in this action (collectively, the “New Settlements”):

• Toronto Dominion Bank, TD Bank, N.A., TD Group Holdings, LLC, TD Bank USA, N.A., and TD Securities Limited: CDN$4,500,000;
• Royal Bank of Canada and RBC Capital Markets LLC: CDN$6,556,000;
• Credit Suisse Group AG, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Credit Suisse AG, Credit Suisse Securities (Canada), Inc.: CDN$5,560,000; and
• Deutsche Bank AG: USD$7,220,000.

The hearings to approve the New Settlements will be held as follows:

• Ontario –September 23, 2021 at 10am (ET) by videoconference.
• Quebec –October 19, 2021 at 9am (ET) by videoconference.

The Ontario and Quebec Courts have already approved a method for disseminating the settlement funds achieved pursuant to previous settlements (the “Distribution Protocol”). The deadline to apply for settlement benefits expired on January 15, 2020. The Claims Administrator is currently processing claims.

Class Counsel propose to distribute the New Settlements pursuant to the Distribution Protocol and will be seeking court approval for this proposal at the above hearings.  No further claims period is being contemplated.

Settlements

The previously approved settlements were achieved with the following defendants, totaling approximately $109 million:

• Bank of America Corporation, Bank of America, N.A., Bank of America Canada, and Bank of America, National Association: CDN$6,500,000;
• Bank of Montreal, BMO Financial Corp., BMO Harris Bank N.A., and BMO Capital Markets Limited: CDN$250,000;
• Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (Canada) and The Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd.: CDN$450,000;
• Barclays Bank PLC, Barclays Capital Inc., and Barclays Capital Canada Inc.: CDN$19,677,205.88;
• BNP Paribas Group, BNP Paribas North America Inc., BNP Paribas (Canada), and BNP Paribas: CDN$4,500,000;
• Citigroup, Inc., Citibank, N.A., Citibank Canada, and Citigroup Global Markets Canada Inc.: CDN$21,000,000;
• Goldman, Sachs & Co., The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., and Goldman Sachs Canada Inc.: CDN$6,750,000;
• HSBC Holdings PLC, HSBC Bank PLC, HSBC North America Holdings Inc., HSBC Bank USA, N.A., and HSBC Bank Canada: CDN$15,500,000;
• JPMorgan Chase & Co., J.P. Morgan Bank Canada, J.P. Morgan Canada, and JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association: CDN$11,500,000;
• Morgan Stanley: USD$2,300,000;
• Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, RBS Securities, Inc., Royal Bank of Scotland N.V., and Royal Bank of Scotland plc: CDN$13,220,000;
• Société Générale S.A., Société Générale, and Société Générale (Canada): CDN$1,800,000;
• Standard Chartered plc: CDN$900,000; and
• UBS AG, UBS Securities LLC, and UBS Bank (Canada): CDN$4,950,000.

The above settlements have already been approved by the courts in Ontario and Quebec.

In order to receive a payment from the settlements, a claim form had to be submitted by January 15, 2020 using the online claims process at http://www.canadianfxnationalclassaction.ca/. The claims administrator is finalizing their review of all submitted claims. After their review, payments will be made to approved claimants.

Important Documents:

• Long Form Notice of Hearing [English]  [French]
• Certification Reasons
• Amended Statement of Claim
• Amended Distribution Protocol

For further information, please click the following link to visit the ForEx Class Action website.

Foreign Exchange Manipulation - Status Updates:

New Settlements: Foreign Exchange Manipulation (ForEx) Class Action - View

Foreign Exchange Manipulation (ForEx) Class Action – New Settlement - View

Foreign Exchange Manipulation (ForEx) Class Action - View

Foreign Exchange Manipulation - View

Foreign Exchange Manipulation - View

Foreign Exchange Manipulation - View