国际英语新闻:J.P. Morgan, Credit Suisse to pay 417 millon dollars to settle SEC charges

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- J.P. Morgan and Credit Suisse will together pay over 417 million U.S. dollars to settle fraud charges related to residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS).

J.P. Morgan has agreed to pay 296.9 million dollars while Credit Suisse will pay 120 million dollars, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Friday.

The SEC, in coordination with the federal-state Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group, charged that J.P. Morgan misstated information about the delinquency status of mortgage loans that provided collateral for an RMBS offering in December 2006 in which it was the underwriter. This resulted in losses of at least 37 million U.S. dollars to J.P. Morgan's investors.

With respect to the charges against Credit Suisse, during the period from 2005 to 2010, the company also failed to accurately disclose its practice of retaining cash for itself from the settlement of claims against mortgage loan originators for problems with loans that Credit Suisse had sold into RMBS trusts and no longer owned.

Credit Suisse made 55.7 million dollars in earnings, but its investors lost more than 10 million dollars due to Credit Suisse's practices concerning first payment defaults.

It is the latest legal action by U.S. regulators regarding housing mortgage crisis. J.P. Morgan was at the center of the 2008 financial crisis as it was a major lender to Lehman, whose bankruptcy was the biggest one in the U.S. history.