NY Attorney General Reportedly Investigating BOA over Mortgage Securities

Reuters is reporting that Bank of America (BOA) is the subject of yet another investigation.  New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is allegedly looking at the bank's purchase, securitization, and underwriting of home mortgages.  BOA would be the third bank targeted by Schneiderman's office over securitization practices. 

Reuters took its information from a 10-k securities filing by the bank in which it said it was cooperating with the investigation.  In the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission BOA said it could sustain up to $3.1 billion in legal losses beyond the amount for which it has reserved. That was up from a possible loss above legal reserves of $2.8 billion at the end of the third quarter.

According to Reuters the attorney general's office has another case pending against the bank, a lawsuit filed by then-New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in 2010 against the bank and its former chief executive Ken Lewis over the acquisition of Merrill Lynch during the financial crisis. 

BOA has settled dozens of suits, both on its own and in combination with other banks and bank-owned subsidiaries, arising out of its lending practices in the several years before the housing crash, its purchase of Countrywide Mortgage, and activities of its servicing subsidiary.

Neither Schneiderman's office nor BOA have commented on the Reuter's report.