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SYF.US
id: 660

Synchrony Financial (SYF) $34M Shareholder Settlement

D. Connecticut
Court
3:18-cv-1818
Case number
19 Jan 2018
Class period Start
12 Jul 2018
Class period End
07 Sept 2023
Claim deadline
Synchrony Financial (SYF) has reached a $34 million settlement in a long-running investor class action over practices said to have led to the end of its relationship with Walmart.

The complaint alleged that during the Class Period, Synchrony made false representations about its underwriting practices, claiming that they were consistently disciplined and led to a higher quality loan portfolio than its competitors. However, in reality, Synchrony had relaxed its underwriting standards and had been offering private-label credit cards to riskier borrowers to sustain growth.

  • The truth about Synchrony's credit standards was first revealed on April 28, 2017, when the company announced disappointing first-quarter 2017 earnings driven by poor loan performance. This news caused Synchrony's shares to decline by nearly 16%. Despite this, the company represented that it had tightened credit standards, but falsely characterized those underwriting changes as modest. In fact, the company had made significant modifications to its underwriting policies but concealed that these modifications were damaging its relationships with its retail partners, including Walmart.
  • On July 26, 2018, news outlets reported that Walmart had chosen a competitor to replace Synchrony, causing Synchrony's shares to decline by nearly 14%. Then, on November 1, 2018, Walmart sued Synchrony, accusing the company of improper underwriting in connection with the Walmart/Synchrony credit card program. This caused Synchrony's shares to decline by over 10%.
  • Overall, the lawsuit alleged that Synchrony engaged in improper underwriting practices and made false representations about its loan portfolio quality to investors. The company's actions, according to the complaint, caused its stock price to be artificially inflated and resulted in financial harm to investors who purchased Synchrony's shares during the Class Period.
Case Status
Disbursement
Alleged Offence
Other
Suspected Party
Other
Security Type
Stocks
Trade Direction
Long
Payout per Share
0.23
Filing date
02 November 2018
Plaintiffs
Stichting Depositary APG Developed Markets Equity Pool
Attorneys
Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP (New York, NY), Motley Rice LLC (Hartford, CT)
Judge
Hon. Victor A. Bolden
Administrator
EPIQ
Court hearing date
31 July 2023
Exclusion deadline
10 July 2023
Objection deadline
10 July 2023
Trades matching type
FIFO
Disbursement date
02 August 2024
+$34,000,000
Cash Settlement Amount