A congressional subcommittee is taking a closer look at the Justice Department’s recent multi-billion-dollar settlements with the big banks, the Wall Street Journal reported today. At a hearing scheduled for Friday, the regulatory subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee will examine details of how the settlements required banks to offer assistance to struggling homeowners and neighborhoods, according to committee aides. Representatives of the Republican-controlled committee are expected to ask whether the banks are passing some of the consumer-relief costs to investors, and to take a closer look at how some of the banks are ordered to make donations to consumer groups. The Justice Department’s recent settlements with Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., and JPMorgan Chase & Co., over accusations that the banks sold shoddy mortgage securities in the run-up to the financial crisis, mandate that the banks expend billions of dollars on consumer assistance.
