BNY Mellon, U.S. Near Settlement of Some Foreign Exchange Lawsuit Claims

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is close to settling some claims by U.S. prosecutors in a lawsuit accusing the bank of overcharging customers for foreign-exchange trading, according to a court filing.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan requested a one- week extension for BNY Mellon to respond to the complaint because the two sides “are presently close to reaching an agreement that would resolve certain claims,” according to a letter filed yesterday with U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan. The judge granted the request, according to the court docket.

Bharara sued New York-based BNY Mellon on Oct. 4, the same day the bank was sued by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for allegedly defrauding public pension funds of $2 billion over 10 years. Attorneys general in Virginia and Florida and some California counties filed similar complaints.

The cases center on the pricing of small foreign-exchange transactions handled automatically by the custody banks on behalf of pension funds, a service known as standing instruction. In some of the cases the banks have said they acted as a principal, selling one currency for another in arms-length transactions at a set price that customers were free to accept or reject.

Kevin Heine, a spokesman for BNY Mellon, declined to comment on the government’s court filing.

The case is U.S. v. The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK), 11-6969, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: Joel Rosenblatt in San Francisco at jrosenblatt@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net

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