Seven banks—including Bank of America Corp., Barclays Bank Plc,and Citigroup Inc.—agreed to pay $324 million to settle claims theyconspired to rig the ISDAfix benchmark, which is used in the saleof interest-rate derivatives and other financial instruments.

The settlements follow a ruling by U.S. District Judge JesseFurman in Manhattan rejecting the banks' request that he throw outthe claims. Furman said in March that a group of investors led byan Alaska pension fund had raised “plausible allegations that aconspiracy among the defendants existed” and allowed the suit to goforward.

The investors claimed that, beginning in 2009, the banks usedelectronic chat rooms and other means of private communication toset ISDAfix, typically submitting identical rate quotes, investorssaid in their suit. They were seeking billions of dollars in lossestied to the alleged rate-fixing scheme.

“We are very pleased that these banks are offering our clientshundreds of millions of dollars in recovery,” David R. Scott,managing partner of Scott & Scott, said in a statement Tuesday.Scott's firm is co-lead counsel for the investors in the ISDAfixlitigation.

The investors sued 14 banks in 2014 on behalf of a nationwideclass of investors with ISDAfix-based transactions from Jan. 1,2006, through January 31, 2014, who lost money because of thealleged collusion. Furman must approve the settlement.

Under the accord, Bank of America will pay $50 million; Barclayswill pay $30 million; Citigroup, $42 million; Credit Suisse GroupAG, $50 million; Deutsche Bank AG, $50 million; JPMorgan Chase& Co., $52 million; and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, $50million.

7 Banks Have yet to Settle

The settling companies have agreed to provide “cooperation,transaction data, documents, proffers, and witness interviews,” tobe used against the seven banks that haven't settled, according tocourt papers filed by the investors seeking approval of thesettlement.

Citigroup, Bank of America, and Deutsche Bank declined tocomment on the settlement. Representatives of Barclays, CreditSuisse, JPMorgan, and RBS didn't immediately respond to phone andemail messages seeking comment on it.

The banks remaining in the case are BNP Paribas SA, GoldmanSachs Group Inc., HSBC Bank USA, Morgan Stanley & Co., NomuraSecurities International Inc., UBS AG, and Wells Fargo Bank NA.ICAP Capital Markets LLC, which served as administrator of theISDAfix setting process, also remains as a defendant.

Negotiations began with Barclays in June 2015, the investorssaid in the court filing. Settlements with the other banksfollowed.

The case is Alaska Electrical Pension Fund v. Bank of America,14-cv-07126, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York(Manhattan).

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