Five major global investment banks have been hit with a class action suit for alleged cartel behaviour in the foreign exchange market.
The legal action targeting UBS, Barclays, Citibank, JPMorgan and Royal Bank of Scotland subsidiary NatWest alleges traders used chat rooms bearing names such as 'The Cartel', 'The Bandits' Club', and 'The Mafia' to coordinate the manipulation of the market between January 2008 and October 2013.
Legal firm Maurice Blackburn launched the class action in the Federal Court of Australia on Monday on behalf of bank customers.
Principal lawyer Kimi Nishimura said businesses and investors - particularly medium to large importers, exporters, institutional investors and businesses with operations overseas - had been affected by the alleged rigging of the FX market.
The total value of transactions exceeded $500,000 over the period in question, the firm said.
"Such cartel behaviour cheats Australian businesses in circumstances where they may already have been vulnerable to currency fluctuations," Ms Nishimura said in a statement.
The banks have already admitted to regulators in the UK, Europe and the US that their staff attempted to manipulate the rates as part of a cartel.
Maurice Blackburn said the case will be represented by lead plaintiff J. Wisbey and Associates, who imported dental and medical equipment.
"Australian businesses shouldn't pay more because the banks got together to work out how to make more profits for themselves," managing director Greg Wisbey said in a statement.
Five banks were fined earlier this month by European Union regulators for colluding to fix rates on the euro, pound sterling, yen, Swiss franc, and the US, Canadian, New Zealand and Australian dollars, as well as Danish, Swedish and Norwegian kroner.
Australian Associated Press
