According to City law firm RPC, approximately £25 trillion in outstanding contracts referencing LIBOR remain, and many of these contracts do not contain a provision allowing their reference index to be switched permanently away from LIBOR.
Chris Ross, RPC partner, said: ‘With such large amounts of money at stake, across the spectrum of financial products―including loans, bonds and derivatives―the risk of litigation is very real.’
Ross said he expects the trend of group litigation claims in the financial markets to continue. ‘From RBS to Lloyds/HBOS to the Tesco s 90A claim… these actions are becoming part of the legal landscape in the UK.
‘Shareholders, like pension funds, are likely to be more willing to participate in shareholder litigation as a lot of the trail-blazing work has been done and they become more mainstream.’