[ by Melanie Gretchen ] BNP Paribas settled a mortgage lawsuit with bond insurer MBIA after Morgan Stanley reached its own settlement with the insurer.  The lawsuit, which was launched in 2009 by 18 international banks, alleges that MBIA committed a “fraudulent restructuring” by moving $5 billion of cash and securities out of the bond insurer into a new “good insurer,” thus leaving the "rump" company unable to satisfy insurance claims from the banks. Remaining holdout banks include Bank of America, Société Générale, UBS, and Natixis, along with some of their subsidiaries. Terms of BNP's settlement were not disclosed.  Morgan Stanley's settlement is known to have led to a $1.8 billion pre-tax charge. For further details, go to [Financial Times, 1/10/12].