NEW YORK–Thirteen banks and financial services companies have agreed to pay $337 million to settle they conspired to rig the prices of bonds issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for more than a decade.
Barclays, which underwrote the most Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds, will pay the largest individual share, $87 million. The case was brought by investors in federal court in Manhattan and still requires a judge’s approval.
Earlier, other banks that had been accused of similar wrongdoing, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and units of First Horizon Bank, had settled for $49.5 million.
The plaintiffs in the case had argued the defendants used their market dominance to overcharge for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds from Jan. 1, 2009, to Jan. 1, 2019 in order to expand their profits. After the civil case was filed, the Department of Justice opened a criminal price-fixing probe related to the bonds.
Other Defendants
In all, the amended complaint states the 16 defendants underwrote $3.97 trillion, or 77.2%, of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds from Jan. 1, 2009 to Jan. 1, 2016.
Defendants in the most recent settlement include Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Cantor Fitzgerald, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Nomura, Societe Generale, TD Bank and UBS.