JPMorgan reaches US$388 million accord in MBS investor suit

[NEW YORK] JPMorgan Chase & Co agreed to pay US$388 million to settle a suit by investors who claimed the bank misled them about the safety of US$10 billion worth of residential mortgage-backed securities, a lawyer said.

The suit, brought by the Fort Worth Employees' Retirement Fund and other investors in nine offerings made before the financial crisis, claimed JPMorgan misled them about the underwriting, appraisals and credit quality of home loans underlying the securities. After the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, the certificates were worth 62 cents on the dollar at most, the investors said.

The settlement was disclosed in a filing Friday in Manhattan federal court. The bank denied wrongdoing as part of the accord. A judge must decide whether to approve the pact.

JPMorgan in 2013 agreed to a US$13 billion settlement with the US to resolve allegations the bank misled investors in mortgage-backed securities about the soundness and risks of the investments that helped bring on the subprime-mortgage crisis of 2008.

Joseph Evangelisti, a spokesman for New York-based JPMorgan, declined to comment on the settlement.

BLOOMBERG