Index funds

McQuown is credited with kicking off a financial revolution with the creation of the first index fund.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. wants to remove an exemption that allows index funds to invest freely in bank stocks. The result will be damaging to the investors who have come to rely on the funds' steady returns.

The $2.1 billion settlement is likely to be the last of the big toxic mortgage cases from the financial crisis; the move pressures rivals to lower prices.