B of A, JPM and Invesco Settle with SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission said $418 million has been distributed to more than a million investors who were affected by improper trading of shares by funds advised by Invesco Ltd.

The SEC in 2004 approved a $325 million settlement with Invesco that ended charges of permitting improper trading of fund shares. Another $39 million of interest has accrued since then. Also part of the payment announced Monday was $45.8 million from Bank of America Corp. and $8.7 million from Bear Stearns, which is now part of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Invesco was accused of making agreements from 2001 through July 2003 that allowed favored investors to make $58 billion in rapid fund trades while discouraging ordinary investors from engaging in such transactions.

Rapid trading of fund shares — known as market timing — is not illegal, but the practice does generate extra transaction costs that must be shared by long-term investors. The SEC said that because Invesco's prospectuses discouraged the practice, the trading agreements misled shareholders.

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