Interest Rate Hedging Products (“IRHPs”)

Greg Johnson Solicitors has been at the forefront of efforts to help businesses recover losses from banks in claims arising out of IRHPs such as swaps, collars and structured collars.

Its work in this area contributed to its commendation in the banking litigation section of the two main legal directories, the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners.

The Legal 500 states:

Greg Johnson Solicitors’s lawyers ‘have genuine expertise in banking issues’. The litigation practice is experienced in derivatives, interest rate hedging products and FX products, and is recommended for cases involving manipulation of underlying benchmark rates. Greg Johnson is ‘exceptionally intelligent’, and Stevie Loughrey is ‘an excellent tactician’. Adam Tudor is also recommended.

The firm is known for aggressively advancing its clients’ interests and pursuing litigation where necessary. It takes a holistic and commercial view of cases and has a track record of securing successful settlements.

It specialises in pursuing large claims in the High Court. Over recent years the firm has secured redress for clients in excess of £50m and relieved those clients of very substantial future liabilities. As is the norm in this area, the details of the settlements are covered by confidentiality agreements. However a flavour of the results obtained is set out below:

• Secured successful settlement for a property developer in a Commercial Court claim against a UK retail Bank. The claim involved the sale of 13 complex and long term interest rate hedging products (products which had been restructured multiple times and absent resolution would have meant the client was significantly over-hedged and had liabilities to the Bank stretching into 2030 and beyond). The claim was resolved with the Bank bearing a very large percentage of the applicable termination fees and agreeing to extend the client’s underlying loan facilities and provide it with several million pounds of head-room for further investment.
• Secured a multi-million pound settlement one month before trial in a Mercantile Court claim against a UK retail bank for a building company sold a callable interest rate swap. The case settled with the Bank paying the entirety of the direct losses sought.
• Secured successful settlement, at mediation, of a claim brought by an entrepreneur against a UK retail bank. The Bank agreed to pay the entirety of the direct losses sought.