The US Justice Department has announced a settlement with Bank of America over the bank's role in the sale of mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis.
US Attorney General Eric Holder says the deal is "a historic step forward".
"The Department of Justice has reached an agreement with Bank of America totalling over 16.6 billion dollars in penalties and consumer relief. This constitutes the largest civil settlement with a single entity in history addressing conduct uncovered in more than a dozen cases and investigations."
The securities were sold by Countrywide Financial and Merrill Lynch before Bank of America bought them in 2008, at the height of the financial crisis.
Bank of America will pay a total of 9.7 billion dollars in cash and provide consumer relief worth about 7 billion, much of which will go towards homeowners struggling with their mortgages.
The settlement will cut the bank's third-quarter profits by over 5 billion dollars.
