JP Morgan has reached a $4.5 billion settlement with its investors who lost money on mortgage-backed securities before the collapse of the U.S housing market. This agreement, which was made with 21 institutional investors, is JP Morgan’s latest attempt to  get over its legal woes. This brings JP Morgan’s total tab up to nearly $20 billion to settle an array of recent mortgage-related lawsuits and investigations.

This large settlement is due to a lack of business ethics on the part of JP Morgan leading up to the financial crisis. JP Morgan, like most other banks at the time, participated in subprime lending. They provided riskier mortgages too less creditworthy borrowers simply out of greed. JP Morgan was in competition with other major mortgage lenders for revenue and market share. This competitive pressure led them to issue shoddy mortgage-backed securities, which wasn’t in the best interest of their investors.

JP Morgan’s lack of business ethics cost them dearly in this situation. JP Morgan provided mortgages to borrowers who were unlikely to be able to pay the bank back, which resulted in them losing their homes. Unfortunately for JP Morgan the mortgage crisis soon followed and eventually the market crashed. This resulted in banks being bailed out by the national government. Many believe the mortgage crisis could have been avoided if there were tighter financial regulations regarding risky loans. JP Morgan trying to take advantage of these loose regulations shows their greed and hunger for money by any means. The largest bank in the U.S didn’t think about the repercussions of its actions and now has to pay a hefty amount because of it.