FRANKFURT, March 23 (Reuters) - Deutsche Boerse, the operator of the Frankfurt stock exchange, has made a provision of $250 million for potential damages relating to a lawsuit in the United States.
Deutsche Boerse's Clearstream unit has been sued for that amount because of money clients had deposited with Clearstream. That money became subject of a dispute after a class action suit at a U.S. court against Iran.
According to a Deutsche Boerse supervisory board member, the U.S. court ruled Iran has to pay damages to relatives of soldiers that died in an attack in Beirut in 1983. Lawyers are now seeking to confiscate Iranian funds worldwide.
Clearstream has been sued for the $250 million eur in damages after funds of customers were frozen due to the Iran ruling and Clearstream asked for that freeze to be removed.
"Should the case proceed to turnover, Clearstream intends to defend itself vigorously to the fullest extent," Deutsche Boerse said in its annual report published on Wednesday.
Members of Deutsche Boerse's management board earned a total of 15.2 million euros in 2010, a more than 50 percent increase compared to the 9.4 million euros the company paid the management board in 2009, according to the report. (Reporting by Anika Ross and Peter Dinkloh; Writing by Peter Dinkloh; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)