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Precious metals investors cheered after a U.S. district judge ruled that two lawsuits accusing a number of major banks, including Bank of Nova Scotia, of fixing gold and silver prices for about a decade can proceed.
In one lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni ruled that gold investors can pursue their lawsuit against four banks: Barclays PLC, Scotiabank, HSBC Holdings PLC and Société Générale SA.
“From the gold plaintiffs’ standpoint, it’s a very substantial victory,” Dan Brockett, a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan who represents the investors, said in a phone interview with Reuters on Wednesday.
In a separate lawsuit, the same judge said that silver investors can pursue their case against Scotiabank and HSBC. No terms have been disclosed. A spokesperson for Scotiabank declined to comment, saying that the matter is still before the courts.
The cases follow a turbulent period for precious metals that rewarded many investors during a rally that ended five years ago. Between 2000 and 2011, the price of an ounce of gold surged from about $270 (U.S.) to a record high of $1,900 – a gain of more than 600 per cent – as investors bet stimulative monetary policy would erode the value of the U.S. dollar and push the inflation rate higher.
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