12大银行遭遇首宗Libor操纵集体诉讼

A 65-year-old woman whose home was repossessed is taking on some of the world’s leading banks in the first known class action lawsuit claiming alleged Libor manipulation made mortgage repayments for thousands of Americans more expensive than they should have been.

一位住所因欠款被收回的65岁妇女向全球主要银行发起已知的首个集体诉讼，指责这些银行对伦敦银行间同业拆借利率(Libor)的操纵行为导致数以千计美国人的抵押贷款偿付金额高于应有水平。

The subprime mortgages of Annie Bell Adams and her four co-lead plaintiffs were securitised into Libor-based collateralised debt obligations and sold by banks to investors.

安妮·贝尔·亚当姆斯(Annie Bell Adams)以及其他四位共同参与诉讼的原告的抵押贷款，被银行通过证券化打包为基于Libor的债务抵押债券(Collateralised Debt Obligations，简称CDO)，并出售给投资者。

The class action, filed in New York, alleges that traders at 12 of the biggest banks in Europe and North America – including Barclays, Bank of Americaand UBS– were incentivised to manipulate the London interbank offered rate to a higher rate on certain dates on which adjustable mortgage interest rates were reset. This resulted in homeowners paying more between 2000 and 2010, according to the complaint.

这项于纽约提起的集体诉讼指控，欧洲和美国12家主要银行的交易员——包括巴克莱(Barclays)、美国银行(Bank of America)以及瑞银(UBS)在内——被激励在设定浮动抵押贷款利率的某些特定日子操纵Libor升至较高水平。该诉讼声称，利率操纵行为导致房屋所有人在2000至2010年间的偿付金额高于正常水平。

The plaintiffs, who could number 100,000, have lost thousands of dollars each, says their Alabama-based attorney, John Sharbrough. He declined to give a figure on the total damages his clients are seeking.

代表原告的阿拉巴马州律师约翰·沙步罗(John Sharbrough)表示，原告人数可能高达十万人，每人的损失金额高达数千美元。他拒绝就原告希望得到的损害赔偿金总额给出一个具体的数字。

A series of class actions have been filed in New York since banks disclosed they were being probed. Until now plaintiffs have been investors and municipalities, not homeowners. The banks are contesting the lawsuits and declined to comment. A New York-based judge will have to decide whether to allow any or all of these suits to go ahead as group actions.

自银行披露它们受到调查以来，已有一系列集体诉讼在纽约提起。但此前原告都是投资者和市政当局，而非房屋所有人。相关银行将对这些诉讼进行抗辩，目前拒绝发表评论。一名纽约法官将决定是否允许此类诉讼中的一部分或全体以集体诉讼的形式继续推进。

The plaintiffs held so-called Libor Plus adjustable-rate mortgages. There are at least 900,000 outstanding US home loans indexed to Libor that were originated from 2005 to 2010, with an unpaid principal balance of $275bn, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a bank regulator.

原告持有的是所谓的“Libor Plus浮动利率抵押贷款。银行监管机构——美国货币监理署(Office of the Comptroller of the Currency)的数据显示，目前美国至少有90万份住房贷款以Libor为基准并且发起于2005至2010年间，其未偿的本金金额总计2750亿美元。

Increasing Libor allowed banks “to raise the interest rates paid by the plaintiffs on their adjustable-rate notes, the complaint reads. Most adjustable-rate mortgages had the first day of the month as a “change date on which new repayment rates would reset, it adds.

原告声称，Libor上升使银行“得以提高原告对其浮动利率抵押贷款的偿付金额，并补充称，绝大多数浮动利率抵押贷款将每个月的头一天作为设定新的偿付利率的“利率浮动日。

Statistical analysis shows Libor rose consistently on the first day of each month between 2000 and 2010, the lawsuit claims. Between 2007 and 2010 Libor moved by as much as 7.5 basis points on certain reset days, it alleges. The plaintiffs’ calculation methods were not in the court documents.

该诉讼指出，统计数据显示2000至2010年间Libor在每个月的头一天一直呈上行走势；2007至2010年Libor在某些利率浮动日最多上升了7.5个基点。法庭文件中并未公布原告的计算方法。

“This can’t just be dismissed as a kooky lawsuit, said Dominic Auld, a litigator at Labaton Sucharow, who is not involved in the suit.

Labaton Sucharow律师事务所的诉讼律师多米尼克·奥德(Dominic Auld)表示：“这起诉讼不会被当做一桩怪事而打发掉。奥德并未参与诉讼。