The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) applauded the Supreme Court’s 7-1 decision in the case of Credit Suisse v. Billing, which ruled that an antitrust lawsuit against Wall Street firms involving the pricing of initial public stock offerings cannot go forward.
“Today’s decision preserves longstanding market practices vital to the formation of capital and the strength of the global economy,” says Marc Lackritz, president and CEO of SIFMA. “Had the Court taken the opposite view, the industry would have faced massive legal exposure and a major engine of American growth would have been unnecessarily damaged. Instead of opening the industry to destructive antitrust lawsuits, the Court correctly preserved and reaffirmed the Securities and Exchange Commission’s formative role in balancing competition and capital formation.”
In April 2006, SIFMA’s predecessors, the Securities Industry Association and The Bond Market Association, filed a joint amicus brief with the National Chamber Litigation Center in this very case. The recent decision vindicates the numerous and persuasive arguments that SIFMA advanced on behalf of its members in its amicus brief.