Freddie Mac

Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay $3.15 billion to resolve claims that it misled US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about risky mortgage securities it sold them before the housing market collapsed in 2007.

The person said Goldman Sachs is discussing a settlement with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which filed 18 lawsuits against Goldman and other banks in 2011 over about $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities that later went sour.

The regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, had accused the bank of misrepresenting the quality of loans underlying residential mortgage-backed securities purchased by the two mortgage finance companies between 2005 and 2007.

Deutsche Bank will pay $1.9 billion to settle a law suit with the US Federal Housing Finance Agency over mortgage-backed securities, part of the bank's efforts to resolve a long list of legal issues.

JPMorgan Chase & Co has agreed to pay $5.1 billion to settle claims that it and firms it bought misled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about the quality of mortgage securities and home loans it sold to them during the housing boom.

JPMorgan Chase & Co has reached a tentative $13 billion deal with the US Justice Department and other government agencies to settle investigations into bad mortgage loans the bank sold to investors before the financial crisis, a source familiar with the talks said on Saturday.

But five years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers turned a mortgage crisis into a full-blown financial panic, banks are pulling back their balance sheets from the fringes of the credit markets, with more and more risk being driven to unregulated lenders that comprise the $60 trillion "shadow-banking" sector.

The accord will settle all of the two companies' disputes, including liability for MBIA as a counterparty in swap deals with Bank of America. Bank of America will take a charge against previously reported first-quarter earnings and its capital ratios will rise under Basel III as a result of the deal.

Bank of America Corp's fourth-quarter profit dropped after it took some $5 billion of mortgage-related charges, but the second-largest U.S bank showed signs that it was moving past its problems as it shrank the group that deals with its troubled home loans.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to its lowest level since November 1945 as worries about the European debt crisis roiled markets worldwide.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that citizens can't let fear of deficits stop necessary government spending.

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits in US fell to a level that signaled an improving job market

Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay $3.15 billion to resolve claims that it misled US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about risky mortgage securities it sold them before the housing market collapsed in 2007.

The person said Goldman Sachs is discussing a settlement with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which filed 18 lawsuits against Goldman and other banks in 2011 over about $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities that later went sour.

The regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, had accused the bank of misrepresenting the quality of loans underlying residential mortgage-backed securities purchased by the two mortgage finance companies between 2005 and 2007.

Deutsche Bank will pay $1.9 billion to settle a law suit with the US Federal Housing Finance Agency over mortgage-backed securities, part of the bank's efforts to resolve a long list of legal issues.

JPMorgan Chase & Co has agreed to pay $5.1 billion to settle claims that it and firms it bought misled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about the quality of mortgage securities and home loans it sold to them during the housing boom.

JPMorgan Chase & Co has reached a tentative $13 billion deal with the US Justice Department and other government agencies to settle investigations into bad mortgage loans the bank sold to investors before the financial crisis, a source familiar with the talks said on Saturday.

But five years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers turned a mortgage crisis into a full-blown financial panic, banks are pulling back their balance sheets from the fringes of the credit markets, with more and more risk being driven to unregulated lenders that comprise the $60 trillion "shadow-banking" sector.

The accord will settle all of the two companies' disputes, including liability for MBIA as a counterparty in swap deals with Bank of America. Bank of America will take a charge against previously reported first-quarter earnings and its capital ratios will rise under Basel III as a result of the deal.

Bank of America Corp's fourth-quarter profit dropped after it took some $5 billion of mortgage-related charges, but the second-largest U.S bank showed signs that it was moving past its problems as it shrank the group that deals with its troubled home loans.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to its lowest level since November 1945 as worries about the European debt crisis roiled markets worldwide.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that citizens can't let fear of deficits stop necessary government spending.

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits in US fell to a level that signaled an improving job market