Barclays, Wachovia to Pay $378M to Settle U.S. Mortgage Claims

British bank Barclays Plc and U.S. bank Wachovia, now part of Wells Fargo & Co , will pay a combined $378 million to resolve claims over toxic mortgage-backed securities sold to now-failed credit unions, a U.S. credit union regulator said on Monday.

Barclays will pay $325 million and Wachovia will pay $53 million, the National Credit Union Administration said.

It was not immediately clear whether the firms denied or admitted wrongdoing.

Barclays said on Monday it will include a provision for the settlement in its third-quarter results.

A spokesman for Wells Fargo could not immediately be reached for comment.

The NCUA said the settlements will bring to $2.2 billion its total recoveries from various banks in litigation over faulty mortgage bonds sold to corporate credit unions.

The NCUA, which regulates and supervises federal credit unions, has brought several lawsuits against companies over securities sold to credit unions that failed during the financial crisis.

Banks that have already paid big settlements include JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup and Bank of America Corp. The NCUA said it continues to pursue lawsuits against others, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Credit Suisse Group AG and Morgan Stanley.

The agency said on Monday it also has litigation pending against securities firms over alleged manipulation of interest rates and for failing to perform their duties as trustees for residential mortgage-backed trusts.

(Reporting by Steve Slater; Additional reporting by Dena Aubin and Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by David Evans and Steve Orlofsky)