SNL: Big-Bank Settlement Tab Climbs Past $132B



According to data compiled by SNL Financial, big settlements with regulators have become a rarer sight as the banking credit crisis fades further into memory. The tally for credit crisis and mortgage-related settlements now stands at $132.15 billion for the six largest bank holding institutions by total assets. The figure marks an additional $3.72 billion since SNL’s previous analysis in August 2014.

Most recently, on July 31, Goldman Sachs agreed to pay nearly $270 million to settle a lawsuit led by the NECA-IBEW Health & Welfare Fund of Illinois concerning crisis-era residential mortgage-backed security investments. Goldman recently raised its cost estimate for current legal proceedings to approximately $5.9 billion in excess of reserves, up from its previous estimate of $3.8 billion, according to the company’s August 3 Form 10-Q.

In contrast, Wells Fargo only marginally boosted its expected litigation costs, noting in its second-quarter Form 10-Q that the high end of its range for probable and estimable losses related to legal matters was $1.4 billion, compared to $1.2 billion for the previous quarter.

Morgan Stanley received the brunt of recent settlement costs, agreeing to pay $2.6 billion to resolve claims by the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California in February. According to a Form 8-K filed that month, the event ultimately caused Morgan Stanley to increase legal reserves for this settlement and “other legacy residential mortgage-backed securities matters” by approximately $2.8 billion and revise its operating income from continuing operations for fiscal 2014 downward by $2.7 billion.

According to an April 19 Wall Street Journal report, Morgan Stanley is also involved in a potential settlement with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman that could reportedly see the company pay out at least $500 million to settle claims related to mortgage securities.

JPMorgan Chase was hit with more than $969 million in documented fines in 2015. The company’s most recent settlement was announced July 17 for $388 million and concerned residential mortgage-backed securities that were offered during 2007. On May 27, Judge Laura Swain approved JPMorgan with a $500 million settlement from a class-action suit that accused Bear Stearns of selling nearly $18 billion in faulty mortgage-backed securities. In addition, the company settled claims with Dexia SA in relation to $1.6 billion in mortgage-backed securities, although terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

When considering the costs of the credit crisis and mortgage-related settlements, analysts also examine the amount of loans that are “put back” after being sold by the originating bank. In addition to litigation reserves, as of the first quarter of 2015, the six largest bank holding companies reported a combined $13.19 billion in representation-and-warranty reserves for one- to four-family mortgage loans sold or securitized, largely unchanged from $13.34 billion in the linked quarter.

In 2014, the largest six bank holding companies repurchased approximately $2.10 billion in closed-end one- to four-family loans previously sold, compared to $15.22 billion in 2013 and $7.81 billion in 2012.


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