UPDATE 1-TJX, Visa account holders in agreement over breach

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LOS ANGELES, Dec 20 (Reuters) - TJX Cos Inc (TJX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday that financial institutions representing over 95 percent of affected Visa accounts involved in a major computer security breach earlier this year had accepted its alternative recovery offer.

Under the settlement agreement, TJX will fund up to $40.9 million in alternative recovery payments, as reported earlier this week. That cost has already been recorded in TJX's 2008 fiscal second quarter.

In March, the company disclosed that data from 45.7 million credit and debit cards were stolen by hackers over a period of 18 months, as well as personal information for 451,000 people. A group of banks later asserted in court documents that closer to 94 million consumer accounts were affected, a charge TJX denied.

TJX announced the settlement with all but one of the seven banks and bankers groups on Tuesday that had sued it following the breach. Under that agreement, all settling plaintiffs will dismiss their claims against the company. Payments to financial institutions are expected to be be received by Dec. 27, TJX said.

The computer breach involving TJX, an off-price U.S. retailer that buys excess merchandise in bulk from manufacturers at below wholesale prices, was one of the world's largest reported security data breaches based on the number of affected accounts.

In September, the company said it had agreed to settle class action lawsuits brought on behalf of affected customers in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada.

Those costs were also reflected in a $107 million reserve for estimated potential losses the company took in its fiscal second quarter of 2008 and in estimated future charges of $21 million to be taken in fiscal 2009. (Reporting by Alexandria Sage; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Leslie Gevirtz)