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(Adds settlement amount, details on November settlement)
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK, Jan 5 (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co hasbecome the first bank to settle a U.S. antitrust lawsuit inwhich investors accused 12 major banks of rigging prices in the$5 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market.
The largest U.S. bank will pay about $100 million, a personfamiliar with the matter said. Lawyers for the bank and theinvestors said a settlement had been reached in a letter filedon Monday with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
JPMorgan settled after mediation with Kenneth Feinberg, whoalso oversees a General Motors Co program to compensatedrivers whose vehicles had faulty ignition switches.
Monday's settlement requires court approval, and settlementpapers are expected to be filed with the court this month.
The 2013 lawsuit is separate from criminal and civil probesworldwide into whether banks rigged currency rates to boostprofit at the expense of customers and investors.
JPMorgan agreed in November to pay roughly $1.01 billion toresolve such probes by U.S. and European regulators. Five otherbanks settled for an additional $3.3 billion.
In their complaint, investors including the city ofPhiladelphia, hedge funds and public pension funds accused the12 banks of having conspired since January 2003 in chat rooms,instant messages and emails to manipulate the WM/Reuters ClosingSpot Rates.
They said traders would use such names as The Cartel, TheBandits' Club and The Mafia to swap confidential orders, and setprices through manipulative tactics such as "front running,""banging the close" and "painting the screen."
Other defendants include Bank of America Corp,Barclays Plc, BNP Paribas SA, Citigroup Inc, Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, HSBC Holdings Plc, Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Scotland GroupPlc and UBS AG.
According to the lawsuit, the 12 banks held an 84 percentglobal market share in currency trading, and were counterpartiesin 98 percent of U.S. spot volume.
"The settlement is a responsible step by Chase in addressingits involvement," Michael Hausfeld, a lawyer for the investors,said in a phone interview. "It is a beginning with respect tothe accountability of other banks engaged in the same trading."
JPMorgan declined to comment. The other 11 banks declined tocomment or did not respond to requests for comment. Bank ofAmerica, Citigroup, HSBC, RBS and UBS also settled withregulators in November.
The case is In re: Foreign Exchange Benchmark RatesAntitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District ofNew York, No. 13-07789. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by MeredithMazzilli and Grant McCool)
