Credit Suisse Finalizes $5.3 Billion Deal With U.S. Over Pre-Crisis Mortgage Securities

By Aruna Viswanatha 

Credit Suisse Group AG finalized a $5.3 billion agreement to resolve claims that it misled mortgage bond investors before the 2008 financial crisis, as the Obama administration wraps up a number of crisis-era settlements in its final days.

The Swiss bank had reached the outlines of the accord in December. In the settlement released on Wednesday, Credit Suisse admitted in a 19-page "statement of facts" that it "repeatedly" received information that the loans it was packaging into securities didn't meet the standards it told investors they met.

Top global banks have paid billions of dollars to resolve similar allegations that they misled investors and helped fuel a housing bubble in the mid-2000s and exacerbated the subsequent collapse. Deutsche Bank AG completed a similar $7.2 billion accord on Tuesday. Late last week, Moody's Corp. also agreed to pay $864 million to resolve claims related to bond grades on such securities.

"Today's settlement underscores that the Department of Justice will hold accountable the institutions responsible for the financial crisis of 2008," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said.

The deal includes a $2.48 billion civil penalty, paid to the U.S. Treasury, and $2.8 billion in help to struggling borrowers.

Write to Aruna Viswanatha at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 18, 2017 13:07 ET (18:07 GMT)

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