Compliance September 3, 2009

Merrill Hit with ARS Fine from Florida

Merrill Lynch will pay Florida $8.5 million to settle allegations over the sale of auction-rate securities (ARS).

Reported by

The Florida Office of Financial Regulation said Merrill brokers misled investors into believing ARS were safe. ARS came back to haunt Merrill (now owned by Bank of America) and many other financial firms when the securities went illiquid in February 2008.

The settlement represents Florida’s slice of a $125 million national settlement orchestrated by the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) and multi-state effort led by Massachusetts (see “Massachusetts Charges Merrill with Fraud over ARS Sales”).

The Merrill negotiations also resulted in “a substantial amount of investors’ funds” being returned to investors who bought ARS, the Florida regulator said. Many other financial firms, including Merrill, have been asked to buy back the illiquid investments (see “California Settles with BofA over ARS”).








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Data & Research September 3, 2009

Americans Still Fret about Money, Jobs

Economic and job issues remain high on workers’ worry lists, especially for younger workers, according to a poll by The Hartford.

Reported by

A news release said 55% of respondents listed personal financial concerns as the issue giving them the most stress, followed by 43% listing the state of the U.S. economy, and 27% citing the fear of being laid off.

The number one spot remained the same as last year, but the economy moved from fourth place last year to second place this year. The job-loss worry jumped to number three with a 16% hike over 2008 results, The Hartford said.

Meanwhile, work issues dropped 12%, going from third place to fourth place in the list of worries.

Generational Concerns

While every age group had increased concerns about their job, Generation Y (ages 18 to 29) appeared to be the most fretful, according to The Hartford. While fear of losing one’s job registered across all generations and genders, Gen X (ages 30 to 44) and Gen Y had the biggest increases in 2009 results.

“This is the first time that Generation Y has experienced these types of economic and career issues. They are concerned about their job security and are addressing their layoff concerns by staying in the workplace more this year,” said Marjorie Savage, absence management director in The Hartford’s Group Benefits Division.

The survey, carried out online by Opinauri in April, polled 1,019 U.S. adults age 18 to 64. The generational breakdown of survey participants was: 283 Gen Y workers, 290 Gen X, and 446 Baby Boomers (ages 45 to 65).

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