Oppenheimer Holdings (OPY) said late Friday its Oppenheimer & Co. unit agreed to pay $70 million to settle a class-action lawsuit tied to its cash sweep program, avoiding a trial where damages could have exceeded $440 million.

The case was filed in 2025 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The company said it's among roughly 25 cases filed against various financial institutions concerning their cash sweep programs under which idle customer cash was swept into a bank demand deposit account that provided insurance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., liquidity and access through check-writing.

The court granted class certification in December, with trial scheduled for June, Oppenheimer said, adding that it opted to settle given litigation risks and lack of precedent.

The settlement, subject to court approval, would resolve all claims without admission of wrongdoing, according to the company.

Oppenheimer said it expects the reserve for the settlement to "significantly impact" its fiscal Q1 earnings scheduled to be released next week.

The company's shares were down 1.1% in premarket activity Monday.