Comerica To Repurchase $1.46 Billion in Auction Rate Securities

Comerica Bank’s parenty company, Comerica Inc., has recently agreed to repurchase $1.46 billion in auction rate securities. Comerica worked with the Michigan attorney general and the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation to settle on the agreement amount some time last week.

Several calls and complaints filed by Michigan residents began the investigation. These residents claimed to have been encouraged to invest in auction rate securities and told that they were similar to CDs that could be easily exchanged for cash. When the market crashed last February, these investors were left with nothing, having never been informed of the risk involved in auction rate securities.

Comerica will also be responsible for paying the State of Michigan a civil penalty in the amount of $10,000, as well as $100,000 to the Michigan Investor Protection Trust Fund.

If you were mislead to believe that auction rate securities were a safe investment, contact the auction rate securities fraud lawyers of Williams Kherkher by calling 800.220.9341 today.

FINRA Launches Pilot Program to Evaluate Arbitration Panels

Merrill Lynch, Citigroup Global Markets, Wachovia Securities, Charles Schwab, Morgan Stanley, and UBS have agreed to participate in the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s new pilot program to evaluate the arbitration process.

This two-year pilot program will allow some investors to choose whether they would like an arbitration made up of three public arbitrators or the traditional panel of one non-public arbitrator and two public arbitrators.

According to FINRA representatives,  only the investor making the arbitration claim can decide to participate in the pilot program. The firms will not have the option to decide which cases will be included as part of the pilot program. Investors who would like to participate in the pilot program will be able to as of October 6, 2008.

For more information on the arbitration process and your legal rights, contact the auction-rate securities lawyers of Williams Kherkher by calling 800-220-9341.

Auction-rate Securities Buy Backs Don’t Help Everyone

Despite the agreement of large investment banks to repurchase billions in failed auction-rate securities, these buy backs have done little to help certain investors.  Thanks to pressure applied by state and federal securities regulators, many investment banks have announced that they will buy back the auction-rate securities that they falsely represented as safe investments.

The list of investment banks that have agreed to repurchase failed auction-rate securities includes: Wachovia Corp., JP Moran Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup, among others.

While these agreements will help thousands of investors, the buy back does not apply to $160 billion bought through mutual fund firms or brokers that didn’t underwrite the debt.

If you are feeling the financial hardships of failed auction-rate securities, contact the auction-rate securities lawyers of Williams Kherkher today by calling 800-220-9341.

Citigroup Agrees to Buy Back Auction Rate Securities, Pay Fine

Without admitting to or denying allegations of auction rate securities (ARS) fraud, Citigroup Inc., the nation’s largest bank by assets, agreed to buy back $7.5 billion worth of its customers’ ARS holdings. The bank also agreed to start “restoring liquidity” to another $12 billion worth of ARS and pay regulators a $100 million fine.

The agreement was reached between Citigroup and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and regulators from several states, including Texas.

Citigroup is the first to reach such a settlement in the ongoing auction rate securities debacle. The $19.5 billion in ARS that it promised to address accounts for only 9% of the $200 billion worth of ARS that are still frozen.

For more information, contact an auction rate securities attorney today at 800-220-9341.

Citigroup Investigated for Possible ARS Violations

Citigroup, the largest bank in America by assets, is facing several investigations into its business practices in connection with the sale of auction rate securities (ARS).

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently launched a formal inquiry into Citigroup’s ARS sales, looking for possible violations of federal securities laws. Several state governments, including those of New York, Massachusetts, and Texas, have also subpeonaed information from Citigroup as part of their own investigations.

The $330 billion auction rate securities market ran into trouble in February 2008, when brokerage firms such as Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, and UBS abruptly ceased to participate in auctions as bidders of last resort. Months later, many investors are still unable to retrieve their invested funds.

For more information, contact an auction rate securities attorney at 800-220-9341 today.