The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority entered settlements regarding auction-rate securities with four more companies, but it said two SunTrust Banks Inc. units decided not to complete their tentative settlements.
Investors were trapped early last year when the market for the securities, typically marketed as being as liquid as a bank account, froze. Since then numerous firms, facing allegations that investors were misled, have been reaching settlements that allow the investors to cash out.
Finra announced Thursday that PNC Financial Services Group Inc.'s NatCity Investments Inc. had agreed to pay a $300,000 fine. M&T Securities Inc. and Janney Montgomery Scott LLC were both fined $200,000. Marshall & Ilsley Corp.'s M&I Financial Advisors Inc. was fined $150,000.
