JP Morgan in tentative $13bn deal

JP Morgan Chase & Co has reached a $13bn (€9.5bn) deal with the US Justice Department and other government agencies to settle investigations into bad mortgage loans the bank sold to investors before the financial crisis.

The tentative deal, the largest ever between the US government and a single company, does not release the bank from criminal liability for some of the mortgages it packaged into bonds and sold.

That had been a major sticking point in the discussions, but the government refused to budge on that issue and JPMorgan felt it had no choice but to give in. Until recently, the most JPMorgan was willing to pay was about $11bn.