By Soumyajit Saha
(Reuters) – Australia and New Zealand Bank on Monday said it had agreed to settle a 2016 class action, filed in the United States against it, for alleged benchmark interest rate rigging.
The suit had been filed by U.S.-based investment funds and an individual derivatives trader against 17 global banks, including ANZ’s three domestic peers that make up the so-called “big four” with it. (https://reut.rs/3f1dVnz)
Allegations included that the banks were making hundreds of millions of dollars in profits by setting benchmark bank bill swap rates (BBSW) at levels that benefited their trading books, according to the filing.
The lender on Monday said it did not admit liability as part of the settlement and that its terms were confidential, adding that the financial impact of the settlement would not be material.
(Reporting by Soumyajit Saha in Bengaluru; editing by Barbara Lewis and Diane Craft)
