Merrill Lynch has agreed to pay $10m to settle a case in which the US Securities and Exchange Commission accused it of piggybacking on large customer orders and improperly charging clients to execute their trades.
Merrill agreed to settle an administrative proceeding, without admitting or denying wrongdoing. A spokesman for Bank of America, which acquired Merrill in 2008, could not be reached for comment. A lawyer for Merrill declined to comment. The SEC said it took into account remedial measures taken by BofA.
The pact resolves a long-running investigation into Merrill’s trading practices and highlights concerns held by some institutional investors that bank proprietary trading desks misuse their trading information.