US bank JP Morgan Chase is to pay a $13 billion (9.7 billion euro) settlement to United States authorities for misleading investors during the housing crisis of 2008-2009.
The bank admitted “serious misrepresentations to the public.”
Around four billion will be allocated to homeowners who have suffered as a result of the bank’s practices.
Professor John Coffee from the Columbia University Law School said: “It’s more than triple the four billion imposed on British Petroleum, which was the runner up. It definitely shows a tougher more retributive attitude on the part of the U.S. government.
“At the same time however, this is a record penalty without anyone identifying who the culpable executives were who made these bad and criminal decisions,” Coffee continued.
The settlement ends the civil investigation into JP Morgan, but the US government’s criminal probe is ongoing.
The bank said it had set aside $23 billion to deal with the various investigations into its activities by regulators at home and abroad.
