The Securities and Exchange Commission says JP Morgan failed to tell investors that mortgages tied to the bonds were delinquent. And both banks failed to properly disclose practices that allowed them to profit while investors lost millions, the SEC says.

JPMorgan is paying $296.9 million. Credit Suisse will pay $120 million. The banks agreed to settle the charges without admitting or denying wrongdoing. The money will go to the investors, the SEC said.

It is the latest case against major financial firms for their conduct in the years preceding the 2008 crisis. When the real estate bubble burst, home values plunged and millions of people lost their homes. Investors who bought the securities backed by mortgages lost billions.

Robert Khuzami, the agency's enforcement director, said in a statement that inaccurate statements by banks in packaging and selling mortgage bonds "contributed greatly to the tremendous losses suffered by investors once the U.S. housing market collapsed."

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