“The regulatory crackdown on the complex mortgage securities that became a symbol of the financial crisis is almost complete.

“On Thursday, Bank of America Corp. agreed to pay $131.8 million to settle civil charges its Merrill Lynch unit misled investors in two mortgage-bond deals.

“The settlement took the total sanctions paid to the Securities and Exchange Commission for alleged misconduct related to the 2008 meltdown to more than $3 billion.

“But there won’t be many deals like this after it.

“The SEC has ruled out enforcement action against prominent hedge-fund firms that helped banks create the complicated mortgage-bond deals that the hedge-fund firms then bet against, reaping profits on the wagers when the housing market collapsed.”

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