Ally Financial Inc. and Bank of America Corp. were sued by DZ Bank AG over the sale of $289.8 million of residential mortgage-backed securities.
The defendants were "actively involved" in all aspects of the securitization of the products, acting as underwriters, broker-dealers and guarantors, DZ, the central bank for the German cooperative banks, said in a complaint filed yesterday in New York State Supreme Court.
The offering for the sale misrepresented the underwriting standards used in issuing the mortgages that were pooled to make the securities, DZ said. Other defendants include RBS Securities Inc. and Financial Guaranty Insurance Co.
"The offering materials also contained material misrepresentations and omissions regarding key statistical characteristics of the mortgage loans," DZ said. These included loan-to-value ratios and the percentage of owner-occupied properties, DZ said.
Gina Proia, a spokeswoman for Detroit-based Ally, and Laura Hunter, a spokeswoman for Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America, didn't immediately return messages seeking comment.
The case is Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank v. Ally Financial, 653449-2011, Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York (Manhattan).
