Major pension funds in $590m Citigroup mortgage-backed securities settlement

Institutional investors part of class action

Major institutional investors are part of a $590m (€470.4m) financial crisis-related class action settlement with banking giant Citigroup dating back to 2008.
Institutional investors in the consolidated action included the Public Employees’ Retirement Association of Colorado and the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement Systems as named plaintiffs.
Denmark’s Pensionskassernes Administration (PKA) and Swedish state funds Sjunde AP-Fonden (AP7) and Fjärde AP-Fonden (AP4) were involved as plaintiffs at the start of the case before it was consolidated. Lead plaintiffs also included former employees and directors of Automated Trading Desk, an electronic trading firm bought by Citi in 2007.
“Interim lead counsel and plaintiffs consider the proposed settlement to be an excellent outcome for the settlement class in light of their understanding of theaction’s strengths and weaknesses,” said the investors’ law firm Kirby McInerney in a court memorandum.

The investors had said they were fraudulently misled by misstatements and omissions by Citigroup over losses relating to collateralized debt obligations, many of which were backed by subprime mortgages.

“An excellent outcome for the settlement class”

Citi, which denied wrongdoing, said it is settling the case “solely to eliminate the uncertainties, burden and expense of further protracted litigation”. It is one of the largest settlements to come out of the global financial crisis. Citi said it was “a significant step” in resolving its exposure to financial crisis claims. Link