Foreign news: Barclays wins on dark pools, Polish banks' Swiss franc pain

Reuters and CNBC report that a US court has dismissed litigation by pension funds and other investors against Barclays (which has its LX "dark pool") and seven US stock exchanges, including Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange, BATS Global Markets and Chicago Stock Exchange. The disgruntled investors had accused the exchanges of rigging markets to benefit high-frequency traders. District Judge Jesse Furman said federal law affords exchanges "absolute immunity" from the plaintiffs' key claims, including over the creation of "complex order types" and proprietary data feeds because of their status as self-regulatory organisations.
Switzerland's devaluation of the franc in January caused mortgage repayments of 550,000 Polish homeowners with loans in the Swiss currency to rise by about 20 per cent. So, "egged on by a resurgent opposition, the mortgage-holders went to the government, cap in hand," to share the pain, the FT.com website reports. Analysts estimate the latest proposal to have Polish lenders wear 90 per cent of the difference will see them take a hit of at least US$5 billion hit over the next few years - roughly the entire net profit of the banking sector last year.