Mexican Bank Affiliates Settle Bond-Rigging Suit for $86.4 Million, Lifting Recovery to $107.1 Million
Updated
Updated · Mexico Business News · Aug 17
Mexican Bank Affiliates Settle Bond-Rigging Suit for $86.4 Million, Lifting Recovery to $107.1 Million
2 articles · Updated · Mexico Business News · Aug 17
Summary
$86.4 million from Bank of America, Santander, BBVA, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and HSBC affiliates would resolve all remaining claims in an eight-year Manhattan class action, subject to court approval.
Investors led by pension funds said traders conspired from 2006 to 2017 to rig peso-denominated Mexican government bonds, using private chatrooms to suppress auction-buy prices and inflate resale prices.
The accord raises total investor recovery to $107.1 million after Barclays and JPMorgan agreed in 2020 to pay a combined $20.7 million in the same case; the banks denied wrongdoing.
Plaintiffs' lawyers plan to seek up to $28.8 million in fees, while the case adds to broader scrutiny of bank collusion across sovereign debt, rates and foreign-exchange markets.
Mexico's COFECE already fined seven banks and 11 traders in 2021 over 142 illegal bond-market agreements, and the Supreme Court in 2025 upheld the use of trading chat logs as evidence.