(Adds settlement details, background, comments, case citation,byline)
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK, May 3 (Reuters) - Seven of the world's biggestbanks have agreed to pay $324 million to settle a private U.S.lawsuit accusing them of rigging an interest rate benchmark usedin the $553 trillion derivatives market.
The settlement made public on Tuesday, which requires courtapproval, resolves antitrust claims against Bank of America Corp, Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc, CreditSuisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorganChase & Co and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.
Several pension funds and municipalities accused 14 banks,including those that settled, of conspiring to rig the "ISDAfix"benchmark for their own gain from at least 2009 to 2012.
Companies and investors use ISDAfix to price swapstransactions, commercial real estate mortgages and structureddebt securities.
The alleged illegal activity included the execution of rapidtrades just before the rate was set each day, called "bangingthe close," causing the British brokerage ICAP Plc todelay trades until they moved ISDAfix where they wanted, andposting rates that did not reflect market activity.
Under the settlement, payments would include $52 millionfrom JPMorgan; $50 million each from Bank of America, CreditSuisse, Deutsche Bank and RBS; $42 million from Citigroup and$30 million from Barclays.
The remaining defendants are BNP Paribas SA,Goldman Sachs Group Inc, HSBC Holdings Plc,Morgan Stanley, Nomura Holdings Inc, UBS AG, Wells Fargo & Co and ICAP, lawyers for theplaintiffs said.
Spokespeople for BNP Paribas, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and UBSdeclined to comment. The other non-settling defendants did notimmediately respond to requests for comment.
Tuesday's accord came five weeks after U.S. District JudgeJesse Furman in Manhattan refused to dismiss the lawsuit.
U.S. and European regulators have also examined whetherISDAfix was set properly, and Barclays agreed last May to pay a$115 million fine to settle a U.S. Commodity Futures TradingCommission probe.
The private lawsuit is one of many pending in Manhattanfederal court accusing banks of conspiring to rig ratebenchmarks, securities prices or commodities prices.
The case is Alaska Electrical Pension Fund et al v. Bank ofAmerica Corp et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District ofNew York, No. 14-07126. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by DavidGregorio and Bill Rigby)
HSBC Holdings (HSBA)