Deutsche Bank faced with mirror legal case over HFT
Deutsche Bank is to be sued by a group of lawyers in a British court, who accuse the bank of using high-speed trading software to profit in forex markets at the expense of their customers. Reports suggest that the lawsuit will be filed later this year on behalf of companies, investors, and even some central banks that are in the business of buying and selling currencies. The lawsuit will mirror a similar one filed in New York last month by the same group of lawyers. Deutsche Bank has said that it opposes the allegations and will fight the claim.

FRANKFURT — Deutsche Bank, already troubled by lawsuits and official investigations, faces another challenge. A group of lawyers said on Monday that they planned to sue the company in British court, accusing the bank of using high-speed trading software to profit in foreign currency markets at the expense of customers.

The lawsuit is to be filed later this year on behalf of companies, investors and even some central banks that frequently buy and sell currencies. The lawsuit would mirror one filed in New York last month by some of the same law firms. That lawsuit asserts that Deutsche Bank used a software platform known as Autobahn to take advantage of millisecond changes in exchange rates to give clients worse prices than they were entitled to.

Deutsche Bank denied the claims in the lawsuit, saying in a statement Monday: “We disagree with the allegations and will be defending ourselves in court.”

The lawsuit was filed last month against Deutsche Bank in Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York. The class-action lawsuit attracted little notice in the media until the German magazine Der Spiegel reported it on Sunday.