Bank of America Corp. may settle a state and federal probe of foreclosure practices in a deal that allows New York to proceed with an inquiry into securitizations, said a Bloomberg report citing two people with direct knowledge of the talks.
The firm may pursue an accord with most of the 50 state attorneys general, even if it omits New York’s Eric Schneiderman and at least two other states who are opposed because a deal would impede related inquiries, according to the Bloomberg report.
Negotiations on a broad settlement stalled after Schneiderman indicated he wouldn’t let it block his probe into the bundling and sale of mortgages, noted sources that Bloomberg said declined to be identified because the talks are private.
Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan, seeking to reverse a 44% stock slide this year, has booked about $30 billion in settlements and writedowns to clean up mortgage liabilities at BofA since the start of 2010.
One of the largest legal matters still pending is the multi-state probe into whether firms servicing mortgages used bogus documents to justify foreclosures.
