Chase Agrees to Plan for Holocaust Claim

Chase Manhattan Corp. and two U.S. Jewish groups said they had reached an accord in New York to settle charges that two bank offices in France froze Jewish accounts before the Nazis ordered them to do so. The pact, the first a bank has reached over Holocaust era claims in France, subjects Chase to an independent probe of its conduct and could result in modest payouts to former Chase customers. The Claims Conference, a Jewish restitution organization, and one of its 20 members, the World Jewish Congress, said the agreement should serve as a model for other banks facing similar claims. Chase and the WJC declined to provide details of how the accord would work.