Mike Lange, Securities Litigation Counsel, Financial Recovery Technologies and Emily Fortin, Associate Counsel,  Financial Recovery Technologies

With the May 16 claim filing deadline fast approaching, the $2.3 billion FOREX settlement is dominating investor attention. However, it’s just one of several antitrust class action settlements with money already in escrow and upcoming administrations. Another $850 million will be distributed after FOREX, and investors should not lose sight of the next two claim submission deadlines: ISDAfix on July 16 and Euribor on August 1.

Like FOREX, ISDAfix and Euribor involve alleged manipulation of currency markets and/or benchmark rates that hurt investors in a range of complex financial instruments.  Their administrations similarly involve complicated formulas for calculating compensable losses, tied to trading volumes during class periods dating back to the early 2000s.

However, they differ from FOREX in at least three important ways:

• No constructed trade option – investors will need to submit their full trade details: In the FOREX settlement, claimants can choose to file Option 1 and have the administrator identify their eligible trades and calculate their compensable losses and distribution amount. There’s no similar option for these next two matters. Claim forms are blank and class members must submit their full trade details by the deadlines. On the plus side, they won’t be receiving hundreds or thousands of notices with unique login credentials without which it’s difficult to submit claims.
• Potentially lower participation could lead to larger payouts as a percentage of losses: Investor participation may be lower for the next two matters given lower public awareness of them than FOREX and the lack of a constructed trades filing option for those unwilling to pull together their trading data. Like FOREX, their class periods go back to more than a decade, when data can be missing or harder to find. Lower participation could raise the percentage of payouts for those that do file.
• More manageable methodologies but still complex: The next two settlements involve more readily identifiable financial instruments than FOREX. The formulas for calculating eligible losses, while still complex, also appear easier to apply. As in FOREX, it will still be hard to project pro-rata distribution amounts as they depend on participation rates which are unique to each matter.

For fiduciaries, the multitude of Antitrust claim filing opportunities this year re-enforces the need to have a system in place to track matters, make timely filings, and ensure their funds recover everything to which they’re entitled in all antitrust class action settlements, not just FOREX.

Learn More

For more information about ISDAfix, Euribor, and other Antitrust cases, please reach out to your account manager or email us at learnmore@frtservices.com.