The Department of Justice and state officials are targeting up to nine banks for the next round of billion-dollar payments related to soured mortgages, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal.
The entities already collected almost $37 billion from the largest U.S. banks and now are looking toward U.S. and European banks.
The settlements relate to securities backed by residential mortgages that plunged in value during the financial crisis. Banks are expected to pay from a few hundred million dollars to $2 billion or $3 billion each, depending on their size and the level of misconduct they allegedly employed in arranging the securities, some of these people said. The deals, which are expected to come individually rather than as a group, are likely to stretch out over months as details are worked out, these people said. Negotiations with most banks are still in early stages, these people said.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC) were all part of the government’s first round of settlements.
JPMorgan’s $13 billion agreement with the government in November 2013 was the largest deal in American history.
And the parade won’t stop here. The article stated that the Justice Department could pursue settlements with the large regional banks when these ones are over.
Meanwhile, these would also represent a new milestone in Loretta Lynch’s new position as U.S. Attorney general, since most past settlements were performed under her predecessor, Eric Holder.
