Barclays has agreed to pay $2bn to settle a US investigation into tens of billions of dollars worth of mortgage-backed securities it sold in the run-up to the financial crisis.

The US Department of Justice said on Thursday that the settlement followed a three-year probe into 36 residential mortgage-backed securities worth more than $30bn that Barclays sold between 2005 and 2007. Barclays was accused of misleading investors over the quality of loans behind the deals.