Countrywide Financial Corp. and its auditor KPMG LLP have agreed to pay $624 million to settle a shareholder class action over alleged misstatements and omissions about its lending policies and procedures, a group of New York public pension funds said Friday.
The $129.4 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund and five New York City pensions, which are lead plaintiffs in the case, reached the deal, in which Countrywide will pay about $600 million and KPMG will pay about $24 million.
Countrywide was acquired by Bank of America Corp. in 2008. The settlement has to be approved by U.S. District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer in Los Angeles.
