PARIS (Reuters) - French investment bank Natixis (PA:CNAT) said on Monday it had been ordered to stand trial over a statement the bank issued in 2007 on its sub-prime exposures.
A magistrate opened a formal investigation in 2017 over two statements Natixis released respectively in July and November 2007 over its exposure to the subprime crisis that was shaking world markets at the time.
Natixis said that following the investigation, the magistrate ordered the trial for the statement released in November 2007. There is no date yet for the trial.
The bank said the sub-prime crisis was unprecedented so that the bank had no way of anticipating the chain reaction of consequences it unleashed.
"Natixis considers it has provided the public, in all sincerity, all the information available on its exposure gradually as it was identifying the underlying risks," the bank said in its statement on Monday.
Natixis was one of the French banks hardest by the crisis in 2007 when the collapse of bonds backed by poor quality mortgages -- dubbed sub-prime -- spread through financial markets. Natixis eventually had to be rescued by its parent bank BPCE.
In 2010, French stock market watchdog AMF had looked into whether Natixis had misled investors about its financial situation during the 2007 sub-prime crisis and decided not to bring any charge.