Goldman settles platinum, palladium ‘price fixing’ lawsuit

Goldman Sachs, along with several other entities, recently agreed to pay $20 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the global investment bank of illegally suppressing platinum and palladium prices.

The lawsuit, filed in a federal district court in Manhattan, claimed HSBC and ICBC Standard Bank, along with German industrial company BASF, conspired to keep prices artificially low by rigging the twice-daily platinum and palladium “fixings” by sharing customer data, front-running the moves and placing spoof orders into the market.

The settlement is still pending final approval, which could come as early as January, according to a recent report from Reuters.

Lawyers claimed the banks conspired from Jan. 1, 2008, to Nov. 30, 2014. More than $6 million of the settlement details will be paid to legal fees. All parties denied wrongdoing.

Platinum, palladium trending down

Platinum prices have dropped significantly since its 2008 peak of more than $2,000 an ounce. On Wednesday, it was trading at $936.50.

Since its low of about $250 an ounce in 2009, palladium has performed strongly. However, since spiking to nearly $3,000 an ounce in early 2021, it has fallen exponentially and is currently trading at about the price of platinum. Russian company Nornickel, the world’s largest producer of palladium, has been hit with sanctions by the United States on its subsidiaries, according to a Reuters report on Aug. 26. Russia accounts for about 37.5% of global palladium supply and 10.6% of the global platinum supply, all of which comes as byproducts from the Norilsk Nickel mine, Reuters reports.