Morgan Stanley (MS) reached a settlement with the National Credit Union Administration for $225 million in order to resolve claims arising from losses related to corporate credit unions’ purchases of faulty residential mortgage-backed securities.
This is the most recent in a string of settlements from NCUA.
In 2013, the NCUA filed suit against Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Morgan Stanley (MS) and eight other institutions over the sale of nearly $2.4 billion in mortgage-backed securities to U.S. Central Federal Credit Union, Western Corporate Federal Credit Union, Members United Corporate Federal Credit Union and Southwest Corporate Federal Credit Union.
In October, Barclays (BCS) and Wachovia, now a part of Wells Fargo (WFC), said they would pay a total of $378 million to NCUA as part of two separate settlements stemming from losses related to purchases of residential mortgage-backed securities.
And in September, RBS agreed to a $129.6 million settlement with the NCUA over similar claims.
“NCUA continues to pursue recoveries on behalf of the corporate credit unions against the financial firms we maintain contributed to the corporates’ losses,” NCUA Board Chairman Debbie Matz said. “These actions fulfill our statutory obligation to act in order to minimize costs to the credit union system resulting from the crisis. They also promote accountability and ensure consumers remain protected.”
NCUA said the net proceeds from this settlement and others are used to pay claims against the failed corporate credit unions, including those of the Temporary Corporate Credit Union Stabilization Fund. Stabilization Fund recoveries reduce borrowings from the U.S. Treasury and eliminate the need for assessments to federally insured credit unions.
As a result of the settlement, NCUA said it will dismiss pending suits against Morgan Stanley in federal district courts in New York and Kansas.
Morgan Stanley does not admit fault in the settlement.
NCUA said it continues to pursue litigation in federal courts in New York, Kansas and California against financial firms, including RBS, Goldman Sachs (GS), UBS (UBS) and Credit Suisse (CS), based on the sale of faulty securities that caused the collapse of five corporate credit unions.
