JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to give mortgage-bond trustees evaluating a proposed $4.5 billion settlement over bad loans an extra three months to consider signing onto the deal.
The deadline was extended to June 16, according to a letter posted to a website for the settlement. Trustees including Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Deutsche Bank AG and Wells Fargo & Co. had asked the New York-based bank for the change in a letter dated March 4. Stephen Cutler, JPMorgan's general counsel, agreed to the request, the document shows.
The previous deadline was March 16, according to an earlier letter.
JPMorgan's tentative deal to offer payments to bond investors for mortgages that failed to match their promised quality is part of an effort by the largest U.S. bank to move past legal troubles tied in part to the housing crisis. The accord was announced in November during the week before the company agreed to a record $13 billion settlement with government agencies over faulty mortgage securities.
Brian Marchiony, a spokesman for JPMorgan, confirmed that the deadline was pushed back and declined to comment further.
The $4.5 billion proposed accord was negotiated between JPMorgan and 21 institutional investors including BlackRock Inc. and Pacific Investment Management Co. Trustees representing all investors in individual transactions must accept the deal. Hedge fund Fir Tree Partners has said it will seek to continue separate lawsuits over some of the securities.
Kathy Patrick, a lawyer at Gibbs & Bruns LLP representing the investors who negotiated the deal, declined to comment, as did Kevin Heine, a spokesman for Bank of New York, and Ari Cohen of Deutsche Bank and Jen Hibbard of Wells Fargo.
