In Brief: Republic N.Y. Faces Class Action in Pa.

Republic New York Corp. is the target of a class action filed Friday in Pennsylvania over an ongoing scandal involving the bank's securities unit.

The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, alleges that the $51.2 billion-asset bank falsely represented to shareholders that it was not aware of any circumstances that would adversely affect Republic's pending $10.3 billion acquisition by London-based HSBC Holdings PLC.

A Republic spokeswoman said the bank had no comment.

Last month Republic acknowledged it was cooperating in an investigation into allegations that a New Jersey-based investment manager used his Republic Securities account to hide up to $950 million in losses from Japanese investors.

The bank has not been accused of any wrongdoing. The suit filed Friday alleges that the scandal has "severely threatened the consummation of the merger" with HSBC.

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