Griesa postpones decision on Citibank request over Argentine bonds

This file photo shows NY judge Thomas Griesa.

New York federal judge Thomas Griesa held a new hearing between Citibank representatives and holdout investors of the Argentine national debt.

Citibank wanted Griesa to issue a definitive order that would authorize them to process payments on dollar-denominated, Argentine-law bonds, instead of issuing permissions each time an interest payment is due, as has happened so far.

Griesa postponed his decision and stated he will be considering the matter during the next days. The meeting started at 2 pm in New York and was the first of 2015.

Yesterday, Argentine federal government representatives and Citibank lawyers sent Griesa a memorandum explaining that the injunctions issued by Griesa to enforce the pari passu clause only prevent the country from making payments on exchange bonds through the Bank of New York Mellon (BNYM), unless the full debt is also paid. But the same doesn’t apply to Argentine-law bonds, which were never addressed by the injunctions, due to their domestic nature.