Regulators launch probe of banks’ post-crisis activities

Financial regulators are investigating a host of major Wall Street banks suspected of cheating clients in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The probe centers on whether Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and other major institutions purposefully mispriced key mortgage bonds, the newspaper reports, citing people close to the investigation.

“Wall Street’s conduct leading up to and during the market convulsions of 2008 already has been closely examined by authorities,” the WSJ’s Jean Eaglesham writes. “The new probe by regulators is the first known wide-ranging examination of mortgage-bond sales by banks in the years that followed.”

The inquiry reportedly began less than a year ago and is focusing on the pricing of residential mortgage-backed securities from 2009 to 2011.

The full Wall Street Journal story is available here.