London: Barclays Plc will pay $120 million (Dh440.4 million) to a group of cities and other investors that bought Libor-based derivatives from the bank, to settle claims it participated in a scheme to suppress the US dollar Libor benchmark, a lawyer for the purchasers said in a statement.
Barclays will also cooperate with claims against other banks, Michael Hausfeld, a lawyer for the purchasers said in a statement Friday. The London interbank offered rate, or Libor, is a financial benchmark that is used to help set prices for more than $350 trillion in loans and securities throughout the world.
“The settlement with Barclays, which comes over four years after the case was first filed, not only represents an important breakthrough in resolving this long-running litigation, it also provides significant monetary recovery and cooperation that will benefit the victims of the banks’ conduct,” Hausfeld said in the statement.
Hausfeld said the settlement was reached shortly before a federal appeals court in Manhattan heard arguments on Friday from plaintiffs seeking to reinstate antitrust claims against 16 banks that are claimed to have manipulated Libor to increase their profits. The court didn’t say when it will rule on the appeal.
Plaintiffs include the city of Baltimore and the City of New Britain Firefighters and Police Benefit fund.
