COMPANIES Santander, the Spanish bank whose clients lost €2.33bn in the alleged fraud by the US broker Bernard Madoff, on Tuesday night became the first institution to offer to repay the victims in an attempt to stave off lawsuits and preserve its reputation.
Santander said it would pay back 100 per cent of the investments made in the Optimal Strategic US Equity fund, which was wholly invested with Mr Madoff, to individual private banking clients but not to institutional investors. In exchange, clients would have to agree not to sue.
