Pimco Says Foreclosure Deal Cheaper for Banks Than Pensions

The government’s deal with banks over their foreclosure practices after 16 months of investigations is cheap for the loan servicers while costly for bond investors including pension funds, according to Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Scott Simon.

In what the U.S. called the largest federal-state civil settlement in the nation’s history, five banks including Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. committed $20 billion in various forms of mortgage relief plus payments of $5 billion to state and federal governments yesterday.