Simon Duncan reviews an important banking litigation decision for victims of swap mis-selling
The decision of His Honour Judge Havelock-Allan QC in Suremime Limited v Barclays Bank Plc [2015] EWHC 2277 (QB), [2015] All ER (D) 03 (Sep) on 30 July 2015 is hugely important for victims of swap mis-selling.
Suremime was dissatisfied with the redress offer made by Barclays. Having been mis-sold a structured collar in June 2008, Suremime was offered a replacement in the form of a vanilla swap of nine years 10 months duration at a rate of 5.84%, with a break cost of £131,533. Suremime contended that had the redress been conducted properly then a five year interest rate cap at 6.5% would have been offered instead.
Suremime made an interim application to court for permission to amend its particulars of claim. The new claims were:
- Barclay’s offer to review the sale of the structured collar and Suremime’s election to participate in that review brought a contract into being under which Barclays owed Suremime a duty to conduct the review in accordance with the terms agreed between Barclays and