Barclays, SocGen $50 Million Gold Fix Settlement Gets Court Nod

Barclays Plc, Société Générale SA, and Scotiabank exited antitrust litigation over an alleged scheme by top global financial institutions to rig the London gold fix, a key benchmark, after a federal judge in Manhattan approved their $50 million settlement with traders.

Judge Valerie E. Caproni signed off Tuesday on the agreement resolving class action claims they faced in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. She also handed nearly $17 million in legal fees to the two law firms that led the case.

The ruling came about eight months after Caproni gave the pact a tentative nod in January, the same day she awarded $28 million in attorneys’ fees in connection with two earlier settlements, a $62 million deal with Deutsche Bank AG and a $42 million agreement with HSBC Holdings Plc.

The lawsuit, consolidated in 2014, accused the financial institutions of conspiring to manipulate the century-old fix—which was set twice daily through London Gold Market Fixing Ltd., a multi-bank consortium—until the benchmark was revised in 2015. London Gold also participated in the settlement.

Caproni’s orders, signed Monday, were posted directly to the court docket Tuesday. Full versions of the rulings weren’t available as of Wednesday afternoon.

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and Berger Montague PC are co-lead counsel for the traders.

Barclays is represented by Allen & Overy LLP. SocGen is represented by Hogan Lovells US LLP. Scotiabank is represented by Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. London Gold is represented by Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP.

The case is In re Commodity Exch. Inc. Gold Futures & Options Trading Litig., S.D.N.Y., No. 14-md-2548, approval orders filed 8/9/22.