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* Deutsche Bank says case 'without merit'
* Societe Generale says lawsuit's claims unsubstantiated
LONDON, March 5 (Reuters) - The five banks involved insetting the London benchmark gold price have been accused in alawsuit of price manipulation, a filing with a U.S. federalcourt in New York showed.
In the filing with the U.S. District Court in Manhattandated March 3, New York resident Kevin Maher, who says he boughtand sold gold and gold futures and options, alleged the banksoverseeing the benchmark - Societe Generale, DeutscheBank, Barclays, Bank of Nova Scotia and HSBC - colluded to manipulate it.
Maher is bringing the suit as a class action, on behalf ofhimself and other investors who held or traded gold and goldderivatives that were settled based on the gold fix, or who heldor traded COMEX gold futures or options, from 2004 to now.
In a statement, Deutsche said it believed the suit waswithout merit and that the bank "will vigorously defend againstit".
A spokesperson for Societe Generale said: "Societe Generaleappears to have been named as a defendant in these proceedingstogether with other members of the London Gold Market FixingLtd. The claims are unsubstantiated and Societe Generale willdefend these proceedings."
Barclays and HSBC declined to comment, while Bank of NovaScotia could not immediately be reached.
The suit is seeking unspecified damages.
Gold fixing happens twice a day in a teleconference betweenbanks. At the start of each fixing, the chairman announces anopening price to the other members, who relay that to theircustomers and, based on orders received from them, instructtheir representatives to declare themselves buyers or sellers atthat price.
The price is adjusted up and down until demand and supplyare matched, at which point the price is declared "fixed". Thefixings are used to help determine prices globally.
Regulators including Germany's Bafin are looking moreclosely at how banks set benchmarks such as the gold fix afterthe Libor rigging scandal exposed widespread interest-ratemanipulation. Britain's Financial Conduct Authorityalso said it was broadly looking at gold as part of aninvestigation into commodity benchmarks.
In January, Deutsche Bank said it was quitting the processafter withdrawing from the bulk of its commodities business.
South Africa's Standard Bank, now selling acontrolling stake in its markets unit to China's ICBC, is emerging as a front-runner to buy Deutsche'splace in the global gold price-setting process, sources familiarwith the matter told Reuters last month.
