The Tennessee city of Lewisburg got an unpleasant surprise this January when they discovered that their annual interest rates on a bond was now $1 million. Officials had gotten themselves involved in risky municipal bonds after speaking with investment firm Morgan Keegan & Co. at a state-sponsored seminar five years…
A number of Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC representatives who left the company last year say that they were obligated to acquire certified financial planner certification but were also barred from revealing that part of their bonuses were affected by whether they sold certain proprietary products. About half of Fidelity brokers’…
Separate Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panels have issued awards to investors who suffered financial losses in Regions Morgan Keegan mutual funds. Last week, a FINRA panel awarded two California residents $267,711 plus interest for their losses-the largest bund fund arbitration award that Morgan Keegan has been ordered to pay…
Merrill Lynch & Co. must pay an investor $39.8 million in compensatory damages because of negligence on the part of one a subsidiary broker-dealer. A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel issued the award to Trustees of the Masonic Hall & Asylum Fund, which is an endowment for an Utica…
First New York Securities LLC and four of its ex-traders have reached a settlement with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority over allegations that they improperly covered short positions involving secondary offering shares, as well as engaged in associated oversight failures. Per the FINRA settlement, First New York Securities LLC will…
Merrill Lynch will pay $7 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission administrative charges that the investment bank neglected to protect customers whose orders were transmitted over “squawk boxes.” The penalty is the second highest fine that the SEC has imposed for cases involving Section 15(f) of the 1934 Securities…
The Texas State Securities Board has fined Wachovia Securities $4 million for misleading investors about auction-rate securities. The Wells Fargo & Co unit must also have completed buying back ARS from investor clients in Texas by June 30. This is the final step in the auction-rate securities case against Wachovia…
According to a TD Ameritrade Institutional survey, most investment advisers continue to tell their clients that now is a great time to invest in the financial market rather than encouraging them to cash out their investments in the wake of the financial crisis: • 93% of investment advisers are not…
In 2007, Morgan Keegan settled an arbitration claim with the Indiana Children’s Wish Fund for an undisclosed amount. The charity had reported losing $48,000 in a mutual fund it had invested in with the brokerage firm. The Wish Fund became involved in mortgage securities after a local banker persuaded the…
In Europe, the Luxembourg Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) has censured UBS’s Luxembourg-based branch for failing to execute due diligence and, as a result, allegedly allowing for the massive losses investors have incurred from the Bernard Madoff’s $50 billion Ponzi scam. The Luxembourg financial service regulator is accusing…