The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced another — albeit much smaller — settlement on Friday with France-based Société Générale SA in connection with its sale of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS).
Société Générale SA will pay a US$50-million civil penalty to resolve claims related to its issuance, marketing and sale of RMBS, the DoJ noted. This latest settlement comes in the wake of a pair of multi-billion dollar deals between the DoJ and Deutsche Bank AG and Credit Suisse AG earlier this week.
As part of this latest agreement, Société Générale acknowledges that it made false representations to prospective investors in an RMBS issue and that the bank agreed to co-operate fully with any ongoing investigations related to the conduct covered in the agreement.
“SocGen’s acknowledgement of its misconduct in the securitization … was a critical component of this resolution,” says U.S. attorney Robert Capers in a statement. “We will not tolerate investment banks making false representations to investors; if and when they do so, they will be held accountable.”