WSJ:Banks Brace For Fallout From J.P. Morgan’s Record Settlement

According to an article published today in the Wall Street Journal, Attorney General Eric Holder plans to use the deal with J.P.Morgan Chase, as a model for ongoing probes of other major financial firms’ conduct in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis, according to several people familiar with his thinking. Justice Department officials intend to go after billions in fines from other institutions, pursue criminal cases aggressively and mix penalties with assistance for homeowners who were harmed by the financial crisis, these people said. Some J.P. Morgan rivals are already racing to figure out their ultimate exposure to all crisis-era lawsuits, said a person close to several large banks. The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which was able to negotiate a cash payment of $4 billion as part of the larger pact, also intends to use the J.P. Morgan deal as a template for its pursuit of J.P. Morgan’s rivals. The regulator of mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is seeking a payment of more than $6 billion from Bank of America Corp.BAC that would resolve allegations that it misled Fannie and Freddie about the quality of mortgages sold to them during the crisis, said people close to those talks. Bank of America thus far has not agreed to any number, said another person.