Credit Suisse Wins FX Chatroom Verdict

The long-running saga relating to Bloomberg chat room activity amongst FX dealers and alleged FX market manipulation more than a decade ago may finally be coming to a close, in what might be seen as a surprising fashion as, after several banks settled out of court, Credit Suisse’s decision to fight the charges has been vindicated with a jury decision in its favour.

The jury in the Southern District Court of New York has found that while there was industry-wide move to manipulate spreads and rates, the plaintiffs in the case – a group of investment managers – had failed to prove Credit Suisse traders were a part of it.

The case heard what have become routine arguments in these cases about how traders in chat rooms shared information about spreads quoted to customers and the direction of flow, however the bank argued that the chats were “banter” and that the dealers never acted upon the information.

Earlier this year, Credit Suisse settled with Pimco and BlackRock amongst others – firms that had dropped out of the class action. So far, 15 banks have settled out of court with this class action, for a total of $2.3 billion.