European Banks Aim to Settle U.S. Mortgage Claims

Three European banks are working to resolve longstanding charges connected to their U.S. mortgage-backed securities (MBS) activities in the period prior to the 2008 financial meltdown.

Reuters is reporting that Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) has reached an agreement with the National Credit Union Administration to pay $1.1 billion in a settlement centered on its MBS sales credit unions that later failed. RBS is in negotiations with other federal regulators for problems connected to the $4.3 billion in MBS sales in the years leading up to the 2008 crash.

Separately, a Bloomberg report citing unnamed sources claims that Switzerland’s Credit Suisse Group AG and Great Britain’s Barclays Plc are also in settlement talks with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to resolve charges of pre-2008 MBS improprieties. Neither bank nor the DOJ would comment on the report, though Bloomberg added the Credit Suisse settlement “could be announced within several weeks.”

The DOJ is also in ongoing talks with Deutsche Bank to seek a settlement over similar charges, but the German institution has reportedly balked at the financial dimensions set by the DOJ.