Goldman, BASF, others in $20 million platinum, palladium price-fixing settlement

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Goldman Sachs, German industrial company BASF and two other banks agreed to pay $20 million to settle a nearly decade-old antitrust lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to suppress platinum and palladium prices.

A preliminary settlement of the proposed class action was filed on Friday night and approved by U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan, court records on Monday show.

The defendants also include HSBC and London-based ICBC Standard Bank. All four defendants denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.

Platinum and palladium are used in catalytic converters to curb vehicle emissions, and also in dentistry and jewelry.

Purchasers of platinum, palladium and futures contracts for the metals accused the defendants of conspiring from Jan. 1, 2008 to Nov. 30, 2014 to rig the twice-daily platinum and palladium "fixings" by sharing customer data, front-running expected price moves, and placing bogus "spoof" orders.

The purchasers said lower metals prices reduced the cost that banks and their clients paid for platinum and palladium, and enabled banks to avoid losses on "short" positions they maintained in futures markets.

Lawyers for the purchasers called the settlement an "excellent" result that was fair, reasonable and adequate.

They plan to seek up to one-third of the settlement, or $6.67 million, in legal fees, plus up to $600,000 for expenses.

Final settlement approval is possible in January.

The lawsuit is one of several in the Manhattan court accusing big banks of colluding in various markets including interest rate benchmarks, U.S. Treasuries, currencies and commodities.

The case is In re: Platinum and Palladium Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 14-09391.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Mark Potter)