JPMorgan agreed to pay $177m to settle federal and state charges and to return $51.2m to municipal borrowers affected by the conduct, the Securities and Exchange Commission said.
The SEC settlement also ends parallel probes of JPMorgan’s securities and swap divisions conducted by the Internal Revenue Service, US Department of Justice, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and state attorneys generals.
JPMorgan is the third major financial institution to agree to fines to settle SEC probes since the worldwide mortgage and credit meltdowns led to the Great Recession. In May UBS, agreed to a $90.8m fine, and Bank of America agreed to a $67m settlement in December.
In a statement posted on its website, JPMorgan officials blamed rogue employees who no longer work for the firm and claimed to have cooperated with the probes and to have closed its municipal swap practice.
"These employees concealed their conduct from management," the statement said. "The firm’s policies — both now and during the period in question — expressly prohibit the conduct that gave rise to these proceedings."
