Barclays tries to slash UK investors' $720 million 'dark pool' lawsuit

By Sam Tobin

LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays on Monday asked London's High Court to more than halve a shareholders' lawsuit worth up to 560 million pounds ($720 million) accusing the British bank of misleading the market about its private "dark pool" trading platforms.

Hundreds of institutional investors are suing after more than 2 billion pounds was wiped off Barclays' value in 2014, when New York's attorney general filed a complaint against the lender over a trading system known as "Barclays LX".

The investors say Barclays misled its clients about Barclays LX – a "dark pool" trading venue where orders are not visible to other traders until they are executed – and that the bank did not publish relevant information to shareholders.

Barclays settled the New York case in 2016, agreeing to pay a $70 million fine, admit violating securities laws, and install an independent monitor.

The London lawsuit has been brought by some shareholders who say they relied on information published by Barclays, while other shareholders say they relied on Barclays' share price or its status as a listed company with duties to make relevant information public.

Barclays, though, has applied for more than half of the case – representing some 330 million pounds of its total value – to be thrown out.

The bank's lawyer Helen Davies said it was essential in a shareholder lawsuit that claimants had relied on information published by a listed company.

This meant, she argued, that claims by investors who said they relied only on Barclays' share value or listed status could not continue.

The investors' lawyer Jonathan Nash said all the claimants' cases should continue towards an initial trial, which is due to be heard from October 2025.

Nash argued in court filings that investors in publicly listed companies are "entitled to, and do, trade on the basis that the price of shares of a listed issuer incorporates all material information".

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Kevin Liffey)