Citi, UBS Settle Probe for $29.7B

Citigroup Inc. and UBS AG completed a Securities and Exchange Commission settlement regarding allegations that the banking giants misled investors in the freeze-up of the auction-rate securities market this year.

Nearly $30 billion of securities are to be repurchased under the deal, which still requires court approval. About $7 billion is to be repurchased by Citigroup and $22.7 billion by UBS.

The companies in August agreed to settle with the agency, defusing a regulatory and legal showdown about sales practices for securities that were touted as safe but then couldn't easily be sold and in some cases lost value after the auction-rate market froze in February.

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