6:46 PM
By Joe Rauch and Diane Bartz
CHARLOTTE, N.C./WASHINGTON, D.C. | Tue Dec 7, 2010 5:58pm EST
CHARLOTTE, N.C./WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp will pay $137 million to settle a municipal bond bid-rigging probe which is likely to result in more cases being filed in the coming weeks and months.
The investigation centers on whether large U.S. banks decided in advance which investment house would win the auctions of guaranteed investment contracts that cities and counties buy with the proceeds from municipal bond sales.
Often, there is a delay between when bonds are floated and when the money is paid out, allowing some time to invest it.
Christine Varney, head of the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust division, said on a conference call with reporters that she expects "a lot more activity in the coming weeks and months" on a sprawling industry probe that dates to 2007.
She declined to say who else might be a subject of the Justice Department's probe.
Bank of America, the largest U.S. bank by assets, was first to report the bid-rigging problems within its Banc of America Securities unit to the Justice Department, before federal law enforcement began an industry-wide investigation.
Bank of America was granted amnesty from any penalties because it reported the violations to regulators and cooperated with the investigation.
"Bank of America is pleased to put this matter behind it, and has already voluntarily undertaken numerous remediation efforts," a Bank of America spokesman said in a prepared statement.
The settlement was a reminder of the bank's legal troubles in recent years, coming on the same day as Chief Executive Brian Moynihan's presentation at the Goldman Sachs U.S. Financial Services conference where he focused on the bank's 2011 prospects.
Moynihan said the bank will raise its dividend "as soon as possible" if it passes a second Federal Reserve stress test in 2011, and is targeting a shareholder payout at 30 percent of earnings.
PENALTIES
Bank of America will pay $36 million in disgorgement and interest to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, while $101 million will go to other agencies.
The Internal Revenue service will receive $25 million, while the 20 state attorneys general involved in the investigation will distribute $62.5 million to investors affected by the bank's practices.
The bank also will pay $4.5 million to cover the attorneys general's investigation into the matter.
Other banks have not helped the Justice Department's investigation, Varney said.
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