Bank of America Corp. could put its Countrywide Financial unit into bankruptcy if it fails to win court approval for an $8.5 billion settlement with mortgage investors, a bank executive said yesterday, according to Reuters. Chief Risk Officer Terrence Laughlin was testifying at a hearing in New York state court on whether to approve the deal, which would settle claims by investors who said Countrywide misrepresented the mortgages underlying bonds they bought. During negotiations leading up to the June 2011 settlement, Bank of America threatened to put Countrywide, which it had rescued at the height of the financial crisis in 2008, into bankruptcy. That possibility was still on the table, Laughlin said yesterday. American International Group Inc. and a handful of other investors are challenging the deal, saying that it offers only pennies on the dollar.
