New York City will collect $78.9 million under a legal settlement announced yesterday with Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase & Company, and other banks that underwrote bonds of World-Com in 2000 and 2001.

The accord is separate from a $6.1 billion settlement that investors reached with WorldCom’s underwriters, former directors, and other defendants in a class action or group lawsuit. The city elected not to participate in the group case and pursued a suit on its own.

City Comptroller William Thompson said in a statement that municipal pension funds lost “more than $100 million” through their investments in WorldCom. The city’s corporation counsel, Michael Cardozo, said New York recovered significantly more than it would have had it joined in the class action.

“This settlement fully validates the decision of the funds’ trustees to opt out of the class action to pursue an individual case,” Mr. Cardozo said in a statement.

The lead lawyer in the class action, Sean Coffey, said he couldn’t evaluate the accord without knowing more details, including the city’s actual loss and the amount spent on legal fees. Bondholders in the class action recovered more than 50% of their estimated $10 billion in losses.

“It’s difficult to ascertain whether this particular opt-out did as well as the class,” Mr. Coffey said.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Thompson, Yvette Jackson, didn’t have an immediate comment on the exact amount of the city’s losses or the legal fees it paid.

“We’re pleased to have reached closure on this matter,” a spokeswoman for Smith Barney, a unit of Citigroup, Kim Atwater, said. A JPMorgan spokeswoman, Kristin Lemkau, declined to comment.

WorldCom collapsed in 2002 after disclosing that it inflated revenue and hid expenses to meet Wall Street expectations. The former chief executive officer, Bernard Ebbers, was convicted of fraud and conspiracy for leading an $11 billion scheme to cook the books. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

WorldCom emerged from bankruptcy as MCI and moved to Ashburn, Va. New York-based Verizon Communications is buying MCI to help it compete with other local phone companies, such as SBC Communications, which are making acquisitions to attract large business customers.

Investors claimed in their suits that the banks assisted WorldCom in the fraud, or should have discovered the wrongdoing.

Among those sued were banks that underwrote WorldCom securities, including Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase; the accounting firm Arthur Andersen LLP, and top WorldCom executives, including Ebbers and a former chief financial officer, Scott Sullivan.

Also contributing to the $78.9 million payment to New York City are ex-WorldCom directors, Arthur Andersen, and Jack Grubman, a former Citigroup telecommunications analyst, Mr. Thompson said.

The pension funds represent city police officers, firefighters, teachers, and other municipal employees.

The case is In Re: WorldCom Inc. Securities Litigation, 1:02-cv-3288, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York.