Case Name: Mexican Government Bonds Antitrust Litigation

Settlement Fund: $20,700,000

(Settling defendants: Barclays: $5.7 million; JPMorgan $15 million. For full list of defendants, more of whom may settle in the future, see bottom of this post.)

Claim Filing Deadline: November 29, 2021

Class Period: 1/1/2006 -- 4/19/2017

Eligible bonds: Over 1100

JPMorgan and Barclays have settled an antitrust litigation over allegations they took part in a price-fixing scheme of Mexican Governement bonds that were issued the Mexican government through the Bank of Mexico, also know as Banxico. The settlement notice lists three major counts:

• *****"First, Defendants allegedly rigged MGB primary market auctions through collusive bidding and information sharing to control the flow of MGB supply…”
• *****"Second, Defendants allegedly sold newly issued MGBs purchased at auction into the secondary market at artificially high, price-fixed terms…
• *****"Third, Defendants allegedly agreed to fix the “bid-ask spread” artificially wider when offering to buy or sell MGBs in secondary market trading with Plaintiffs and the Class…”

Thee result, according to the plaintiffs, is that class members ended up paying more for newly issued MGBs than they otherwise would have. They further allege the defendants pulled-off their scheme through various secret back-channels including through interbank chatrooms, telephone calls, and in-person meetings.

Many who read the financial news, and indeed, everyone who participated in early antitrust cases such as the GSE Bonds, LIBOR, and FX litigations, among others, are familiar with these kinds of allegations by now. They are also familiar with the exceedingly complicated nature of antitrust litigation. In this settlement, over 1,100 unique ISINs qualify-- and the class period spans 11 years.

The team at Chicago Clearing has filed claims in every single financial antitrust litigation settlement. For example we filed tens of thousands of claims in the recent GSE Bonds litigation, and that case had over 60,000 eligible bonds. We will not be daunted by the mere 1,100 identifiers in this case, nor will we be troubled by retrieving old trade data from any system, format, or trading platform.

Chicago Clearing Corporation helps investors in three key ways:

• *****We help you keep up with the flow of every new class action that appears, including every last detail for each case.
• *****We help you file timely, comprehensive claims for each and every eligible account for your firm and for all your clients.
• *****We help you forget about claim filing so you can focus on the real work of investing.

So if the idea of looking up hundreds upon hundreds of ISINs, some of which may have been purchased in 2006, leaves you cold, then call us today at 312-204-6970. We’d be happy to help.

Full list of defendants:

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A., BBVA Securities, Inc., BBVA Compass Bancshares, Inc., BBVA Bancomer S.A., Institución de Banca Múltiple, Grupo Financiero BBVA Bancomer, Grupo Financiero BBVA Bancomer, S.A. de C.V., Banco Santander S.A., Santander Investment Securities, Inc., Santander Holdings USA, Inc., Banco Santander (Mexico) S.A. Institución de Banca Múltiple, Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico, Santander Investment Bolsa, Sociedad de Valores, S.A.U., Bank of America N.A., Bank of America Corporation, BankAmerica International Financial Corporation, Bank of America Mexico, S.A., Institución de Banca Múltiple, Grupo Financiero Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Citigroup Inc., Barclays Bank Mexico, S.A., Barclays Bank PLC, Barclays Capital Securities Limited, Grupo Financiero Barclays Mexico, S.A.