Credit ratings agency Moody's has agreed to pay US authorities $864 million over its ratings of mortgage securities in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis.
US government lawyers said that when securities were not rated openly and honestly, individual investors suffered, as did confidence in all parts of the financial sector.
Moody's reached the deal with the US Justice Department, 21 US states and the District of Columbia following allegations that the firm contributed to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
A similar deal was done with the Standard & Poor's ratings agency two years ago. It paid out $1.3 billion.
The risky mortgage securities could not have been sold without a credit rating by the big agencies.
Moody's and others awarded their highest rating of triple A to pooled loans.
Much of them were later written down to junk status and losses came to more than half a trillion dollars.
As part of its settlement, Moody's agreed to measures designed to ensure the integrity of credit ratings in the future.
Moody's said that it stood behind the integrity of its ratings and noted that the settlement contained no finding of a violation of law or admission of liability.
