Household International agreed to pay a fine.

The company will pay a $600,000 penalty, the largest fine ever levied by the Federal Reserve Board, in order to settle charges that a California subsidiary violated banking regulations. Household International of Prospect Heights, Ill., consented to pay the penalty without admitting any violations of law. The Fed claimed that Valley National Bank of Salinas, Calif., a non-bank subsidiary of Household, had illegally acted like a full-service bank in violation of an earlier acquisition agreement with the agency.