Citi achieved the settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission under which Citigroup Inc will pay $75 million. The settlement comes after the SEC’s probe into the Citi’s failure to disclose subprime exposure to investors in 2007.

Apart from this SEC also charged Citi executive and a former chief financial officer of misrepresenting the bank's exposure, although not with intentional misconduct.

The settlement with Citi came a full three years after the bank started understanding its subprime exposure. Meantime, analysts are skeptical about the relevance and the efficiency of such probes and settlements saying they will prolong the financial pain.

"This is the type of stuff that erodes investor confidence," said Matt McCormick, a portfolio manager at Bahl & Gaynor investment Counsel Inc.

"If the goal of the SEC is every two or three weeks to come out and say that there's another financial company that's done something wrong," the agency will drive home the belief "that the financial system in the United States is rotten, that it's run by crooks who create fraudulent products," said Dick Bove, analyst at Rochdale Securities.

Citigroup understated its exposure by about $40 billion, the SEC said. The agency charged Citigroup with material omission of disclosure requirements.