Bank of America to settle auction-rate securities probes
By Daniel at 8 September, 2008, 8:40 am
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B. of A. to settle auction-rate securities probes
By Alistair Barr, MarketWatch
Last Update: 9/5/2008 12:59:00 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Bank of America Corp. said Friday that it is close
to settling probes into its actions in the defunct auction-rate securities
market.
The bank has been working for nearly a month with the New York attorney general’s
office and the Massachusetts Securities Division, as well as a group of other
state regulators and staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission to reach an
agreement that would provide liquidity relief to customers who hold auction-rate
securities, according to a company spokeswoman.
“We have repeatedly and consistently said that we are ready and willing to enter
into an agreement that follows the same basic terms of previously announced
settlements,” Bank of America’s Shirley Norton commented in a statement. “We
understood that we had reached such an agreement in principle nearly two weeks
ago.”
Bank of America (BAC) would be the latest bank to settle such probes. Rivals
including Wachovia Corp. (WB), J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Morgan Stanley
(MS), Citigroup Inc. (C) and UBS AG (UBS) have agreed to buy back more than $35
billion of these securities since the auction-rate market collapsed in February.
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