Mortgage, Regulators | featured news

HSBC Holdings Plc agreed to pay $249 million to end a case-by-case review of past foreclosures in the U.S., regulators announced on Friday.

The U.S. regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac accuses the banks of negligence in misrepresenting the risks embedded in the securities sold to the home-finance giants.

Bank regulators announced settlements on Wednesday with the largest home lenders over allegations of shoddy foreclosure practices, but the pacts did not include financial penalties.

U.S. regulators' efforts to settle with banks over improper mortgage foreclosures are being hampered by infighting among the groups involved in the talks, and a settlement may take a while, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Regulators have opened a new line of inquiry in their mortgage foreclosure probe and are asking big Wall Street banks about the beginning stages of mortgage securitization, two sources familiar with the probe said.