US court reinstates LIBOR case against 16 banks

NEW YORK (AA) – A U.S. court on Monday reinstated an antitrust lawsuit filed against 16 banks for allegedly damaging investors by manipulating interest rate benchmark London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR).

In their ruling, judges from the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan said investors showed that they were damaged by paying "artificially fixed higher prices.”

U.S. District Judge Naomi Buchwald in the Southern District of New York ruled in 2013 that the banks’ alleged conduct did not violate federal antitrust laws, and the investors had failed to show any damage under the U.S. law.

The plaintiffs' investments in LIBOR include various financial actions from collateralized debt obligations to future interest rates, while the defendants could face billions of dollars in fines for manipulating the rate.

The 16 banks from around the world include American investment giants Citigroup, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase; Royal Bank of Canada; the U.K.'s Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Bank; Germany's Deutsche Bank, Portigon Bank and Westdeutsche Immobilienbank; Credit Suisse and UBS from Switzerland; France's Société Générale; the Dutch Coöperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen‐Boerenleenbank; Royal Bank of Scotland, and Bank of Tokyo and Norinchukin Bank from Japan.