Banks have been sanctioned and payed shocking fineds for a total of $243 billion since the last financial crisis.
The Major part of these fines have been estimated for misleading investors about the underlying quality of the mortgages they packaged into bonds during the housing crisis.
As reported by Keefe, Bruyette and Woods, which made the list, Bank of America BAC, -0.17% leads the game with $76 billion in fines. JPMorgan Chase JPM, -0.51% has been also fined nearly $44 billion, and a number of other important money-center banks have been fined more than $10 billion. Something very worrisome to note, just thirteen banks represent 93% of the total sanction.
This is crucial to understand that the banks don’t just send a check for their sanctions to governments. Many times they get credit by making loans and supporting debt restructuring. For example, a Goldman Sachs GS, -0.46% engagement for $1.8 billion of loan forgiveness and financing for cheap housing was considered as part of a $5.1 billion “fine” the bank had to pay...
Source: marketwatch.com