Sources told Reuters that stumbling blocks had hit USD 13 billion settlement between JPMorgan Chase & Co and the US Department of Justice. The agreement had to do with the lender's mortgage bonds. According to people familiar with the matter, both parties were still arguing if JPMorgan would need to pay for the errors committed by Washington Mutual. The latter was the failed mortgage lender JPMorgan bought during the economic crisis.

One of the sources also added that JPMorgan was looking to stop some of the criminal investigations in the lender's mortgage business prior to the crisis. The other source said there seemed to be some confusion over the issue. The source said the JPMorgan Chase had consented to keep criminal inquiries separate from the settlement.

However, the people told Reuters that the discussions between the regulator and the bank were still going on despite the disagreements. The snag showed just how difficult it was for JPMorgan to get out of the legal issues it had been dealing with at this point, Reuters reported.