Brokerage Firms

Online brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. on Tuesday said it was eliminating account maintenance fees for its retail customers, in the latest move among discount brokers to chop fees amid intense competition for clients. TD Ameritrade used to charge $15 a quarter if customers had a balance of less than $2,000 or conducted fewer than two trades during that period. The company said it would eliminate the fees for all accounts regardless of size or trading activity, beginning April 21.

Wall Street brokerage firm Bear Stearns & Co. has agreed to pay $250 million to settle charges that it executed improper mutual-fund trades that allowed hedge funds to make hundreds of millions of dollars in profit at the expense of individual investors, regulators said Thursday.

The owner of a now-defunct brokerage was convicted on securities charges for his role in a scheme to manipulate trading in over-the-counter shares of Newport Beach-based Internet gaming company Netbet Inc. that cost investors $12 million, prosecutors said. David Rutkoske, formerly of Lloyd Wade Securities, was convicted of one count of conspiracy and one count of securities fraud by a jury in U.S. District Court in New York. He faces as many as 15 years in prison.

Brokerages were the focus of more investor complaints to the Securities and Exchange Commission in fiscal 2005 than any other type of business, SEC Commissioner Cynthia A. Glassman said Wednesday. For the year ended Sept. 30, about 31% of all complaints lodged with the SEC concerned brokerages. There were fewer complaints about corporations, mutual fund companies, investment advisors and transfer agents, she said.

U.S. Supreme Court justices signaled that they might limit investor suits against securities firms, aiming a barrage of questions at a lawyer seeking to sue Merrill Lynch & Co. on a claim that it issued deceptive research reports. In a one-hour argument session in Washington on Wednesday, several justices suggested that they read a 1998 federal law as barring large class-action suits by investors who say they were duped into holding on to securities they might otherwise have sold.

Merrill Lynch & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and LPL Financial Services were fined a total of $19.4 million Monday by the NASD for selling investors higher-cost mutual fund shares when cheaper options may have been available. In separate cases, Merrill Lynch was fined $14 million, Wells Fargo was penalized $3 million and LPL, also known as Linsco, was fined $2.4 million, according to the NASD, the brokerage regulator formerly known as the National Assn. of Securities Dealers.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. must pay $1.25 million to settle an enforcement action brought by regulators over sales of Section 529 college savings plans amid a wide-ranging inquiry into the popular tax-advantaged accounts, regulators said Wednesday. Brokerage regulator NASD said the enforcement action against broker and insurer Ameriprise was its first to result from a long-running probe into 529 sales practices at 20 securities firms.

Private equity firm J.C. Flowers & Co. on Monday withdrew its bid for the futures brokerage business of Refco Inc. as other suitors joined the race, including a partnership of Los Angeles billionaire Ron Burkle and the Dubai government. Flowers pulled its $768-million bid after a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge said it must sharply reduce a break-up fee included in the deal. U.S. broker-dealer Interactive Brokers Group has made the highest known offer.

Computer equipment and telephone lines don't fall within a reasonable definition of brokerage and research services that investment managers may charge to their clients, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday in proposed guidance on the use of so-called soft dollars.