New York's attorney general has requested data from 20 of the institutional investors that agreed to a $8.5 billion settlement with Bank of America Corp over their holdings in soured mortgage-backed securities.

In letters to the firms dated July 7, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman requested the names of various clients who invested in securities issued by the 530 mortgage securitization trusts covered in the accord. He also sought the par and current market values of the clients' securities.

Schneiderman requested that the information be provided by July 14. Among the investors sent letters were BlackRock Inc , MetLife Inc and Allianz SE's Pacific Investment Management Co. Reuters obtained copies of the letters on Tuesday.

The settlement announced June 29 was part of roughly $20 billion of charges that Bank of America said it would take to resolve much of its remaining legal liability from its 2008 purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp, once the nation's largest mortgage lender.

But the accord has drawn challenges from some Countrywide mortgage securities investors who question whether the accord is fair, or may provide some investors with windfalls.

Twenty-two institutional investors joined the settlement. Of these, only the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Federal Home Loan Banks were not sent letters by Schneiderman. Bank of New York Mellon Corp is the trustee for the 530 trusts, and has called the settlement reasonable.

Schneiderman's office declined to comment. Spokesmen for Bank of America and Bank of New York Mellon also declined to comment.

A MetLife spokesman said that insurer has not seen a letter from Schneiderman. BlackRock and Pimco representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Additional reporting by Jennifer Ablan, Ben Berkowitz, Ross Kerber and Joe Rauch; Editing by Bernard Orr and Tim Dobbyn)

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