Barclays Share News (BARC)

(ShareCast News) - HSBC, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland are among nine banks that have agreed a settlement with US investors over foreign exchange rate rigging claims, with litigation continuing a group of 12 others that includes Standard Chartered.UBS, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, Bank of America and JPMorgan have also signed up to the deal, which will see the banks pay a total of £1.3bn and cooperate with investors in their litigation against the 12 remaining banks, which includes Standard Chartered, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley .Law firm Hausfield, which took action against the banks on behalf of investors, said they had conspired to manipulate prices paid in the foreign exchange market from 2003, with traders using online chat rooms, instant messages and email to organise the rigging."Apart from the monetary component, each defendant has agreed to provide substantial cooperation, which will assist investors in their continued litigation against the non-settling defendants," said Hausfield, adding that this was "just the beginning."It was not yet clear how much each bank would have to shell out in the settlement.The settlements came after Citigroup, JPMorgan, Barclays and RBS pleaded guilty in May in related criminal cases.