The agreement, which may be announced within days, will allow Goldman Sachs to avoid a U.S. criminal conviction over the scandal, the report said, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The U.S. Department of Justice and Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Malaysia in September dropped criminal charges against three Goldman Sachs units after the bank agreed to pay $3.9 billion to settle the probe.

Goldman Sachs had generated about $600 million in fees for its work with the Malaysian Sovereign wealth fund, which included three bond offerings in 2012 and 2013 that raised $6.5 billion.

(Reporting by Ann Maria Shibu in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)