Countrywide Financial Corp. and its auditor have agreed to pay $624 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing it of misleading investors about its lending policies, officials said yesterday.

It is one of the largest settlements resulting from the nation’s mortgage meltdown.

The lead plaintiffs in the case were the New York state and city retirement systems, which together reported losing more than $15 million on their Countrywide holdings.

Under the terms of the deal, which still requires approval by federal Judge Mariana Pfaelzer in Los Angeles, Countrywide will pay $600 million and KPMG LLP will pay $24 million.

Countrywide, which was taken over by the Bank of America in 2008, denied that it did anything wrong and said it was settling to avoid further litigation.