HSBC has agreed to pay $62 million to investors in a hedge fund that fed money to fraudulent money manager Bernard Madoff, becoming the first custodian bank to settle a class-action lawsuit connected to the scandal.

Investors in the Thema fund would receive about 20 cents on the dollar for their $312 million in real losses in the Ponzi scheme.

HSBC, which served as custodian for the Irish-based fund, did not admit liability. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011)