The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said Thursday that it settled cases against four companies accused of share sales and supervisory violations.
Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., Prudential Financial Inc., UBS AG, and Wells Fargo Investments will pay customers more than $25 million for not having systems in place to notify customers of purchase opportunities for net asset value transfer programs.
Prudential Securities, UBS Financial Services Inc., and Merrill were fined $250,000 each, because they did not have systems in place to identify opportunities for investors in such programs, the regulator said. Wells was not fined because it took implemented a system before the inquiry, and paid investors $612,000 of restitution.
Prudential Securities will pay an $800,000 fine, and UBS will pay a $750,000 fine, for improper sales of Class B and C shares. Prudential's Pruco Securities will pay a $100,000 fine for improper sales of Class B shares.
