Ameriprise Financial Inc. (AMP) will pay $27.5 million to settle a fiduciary breach case filed by its retirement plan participants. The plaintiffs contend that the financial firm cost them millions of dollars in excessive fees. The agreement was reached just weeks before the 401k lawsuits were set to go to…
Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, a Bank of America unit (BAC), will pay the state of Massachusetts $2.5 million to resolve charges that it did not abide by its own compliance rules. According to Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, the firm did not properly supervise employees in January…
Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK) has agreed to pay $714 million to settle claims that it bilked pension funds and others by overcharging for currency transactions. The settlements resolve cases by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, as well as both private…
Adam Nash, the CEO of Wealthfront, claims that Charles Schwab & Co. (SCHW) is deceiving investors by claiming that Intelligent Portfolios, its automated investing platform, is free. Nash, whose company competes with Schwab’s new service, contends that the platform will cost consumers thousands of dollars in opportunity expenses involving expensive…
A panel of U.S. Judges says that Charles Schwab & Co. (SCHW) must face a lawsuit brought by Northstar Financial Advisors Inc. The investment advisory firm claims that Schwab invested the assets of a bond-index fund in high-risk mortgage debt prior to the financial crisis. The plaintiff is proposing that…
The 31 biggest banks in the U.S. all passed the first phase of the Federal Reserve’s stress test. This is the first time since the tests have been conducted on banks with over $50 billion in assets that all of them stayed above capital requirements. Banks have been building their…
Morgan Stanley Accuses Ex-Broker, Now With Ameriprise, of Trying to Take Clients Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is suing one of its ex-brokers, John McCallion, who is now with Ameriprise Financial Services (AMP). The wirehouse claims that McCallion went into Morgan Stanley’s (MS) computer system before leaving the firm and changed…
Morgan Stanley (MS) has reached an agreement in principal with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve claims related to its sale of mortgage bonds. The government probe looked into allegations that the financial firm misrepresented the quality of home loans that were packaged into bonds. The broker-dealer, however, still…
UBS Group AG (UBS) is under scrutiny over losses related to its V10 Enhanced FX Carry Strategy. The complex financial product was sold to fund managers, businesses, and individual investors and touted as a high-yielding foreign-exchange investment that employed computer algorithms to reduce risks during volatile times. Unfortunately, according to…
New information regarding HSBC Holdings PLC’s (HSBC) history of aiding tax evaders has been released by ex-employee Hervé Falciani to a number of media outlet, as well as the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The data alleges that the bank kept secret accounts for a number of wealthy, celebrity, and/or…