Citigroup - Another $1.13 Billion Mortgage Hit

By Sneha Shankar - Citigroup Inc. NYSE:C said on Monday that it would pay $1.13 billion in cash to settle claims regarding legacy mortgage securities and other instruments, and will take a charge of another $100 million for other expenses in the first quarter of the financial year, news reports said.

The New York-based bank signed a pact with 18 institutional investors and 68 bank-sponsored trusts to resolve legacy securities issues with investors who had asked the bank to buy back billions in residential mortgage-backed securities. The trusts had issued a total of $59.4 billion in home-mortgage securities between 2005 and 2008. The institutional investors have asked the trusts to accept the offer, which will expire June 30.

"This settlement resolves a significant legacy issue from the financial crisis and we are pleased to put it behind us," the company said in a statement.

The latest settlement is among a series of similar deals seen in the U.S. banking industry, which continues to struggle to find a way out of the housing-mortgage bubble, which led to the financial crisis in 2008. Citi’s settlement offer is subject to approval by the trustees and the court, but if it does come through, it will release the bank from being forced to buy back the mortgages it sold to the trusts. The agreement does not apply to mortgage loans sold through private-label securitization trusts, which are routed through its consumer mortgage business in CitiMortgage, Inc.

Last year, Citi agreed to pay bondholders $730 million to resolve claims that the bank did not reveal its exposure to toxic mortgage assets worth billions of dollars, prior to the financial crisis. 

Banks like Goldman Sachs NYSE:GS and JPMorgan Chase NYSE:JPM have also been accused of selling toxic securities in the years that led to the financial crisis, and the banks have agreed to settlements worth billions of dollars to address the charges brought against them.

In February, Citi was told by a court to pay $110 million to homeowners who were forced to pay higher property premiums by the bank. The bank had also agreed to refund 8 percent each of premiums paid for insurance against natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes, even though the bank or its affiliates received no commissions on the transactions.

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Citi's shares were down 1.19 percent at close on Monday.