Ids Financial Services Inc

IDS Financial Services Inc. will pay $35 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of a nationwide pattern of age discrimination against division managers over 40, attorneys said Thursday. "This prominent case, with nationwide scope and vigorously litigated issues, brings to the fore the strong national interest in eliminating age discrimination," said Donald R. Livingston, general counsel for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

IDS Financial Services Inc. will pay $35 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of a nationwide pattern of age discrimination against division managers over 40, attorneys said Thursday. "This prominent case, with nationwide scope and vigorously litigated issues, brings to the fore the strong national interest in eliminating age discrimination," said Donald R. Livingston, general counsel for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

GE Denies Talks on American Express Bid: General Electric Co. denied a published report that its GE Capital Services unit may be seeking to acquire American Express Co. Business Week magazine reported that a senior American Express employee and an investment banker, both unidentified, said the GE unit approached American Express about a possible merger.

Ventura County clients of the former IDS Financial Services Inc. will not be affected by its being renamed American Express Financial Advisors, a company official reports. The company, whose home office is in Minneapolis, received a new name and logo Jan. 1, but no personnel or policy changes are planned, according to Homer Nottingham, marketing vice president of the Ventura division. IDS, formerly Investors Diversified Services, has been an American Express subsidiary since 1984.

Three Orange County brokers have been fined a total of $240,000, barred from securities trading and ordered to pay restitution after investigations of separate incidents dating back to 1992, federal regulators said Monday. The largest penalty was levied against James A. Keiderling, a Buena Park broker who was fined $120,000. He was also ordered to reimburse $85,885, the National Assn.

Most brokers in full-service brokerage houses depend primarily on sales commissions for their compensation. Overall sales volume, of course, is important in determining commissions. But so is the type of securities bought and sold; some generate higher commission fees than others. Ethical brokers will not base their advice on the amount of commission a particular sale will generate. But it doesn't hurt an investor to know which are the most profitable investments for a broker.

Starting next fall, as many as 500 public school students will likely find themselves attending classes in an unlikely building--the largest enclosed shopping mall in the United States. Five Twin Cities-area school districts recently approved placing of classrooms inside the Mall of America, a 4.2-million-square-foot suburban Bloomington shopping complex due for August completion.

Some economically depressed towns on the hunt for new jobs and industry look to medical equipment companies, mail order firms or tourism. Appleton turned to crime. After studying more than 100 potential industries, this farm town of 1,552 decided to hang its hopes on the nation's crime wave and overcrowded prison conditions. Appleton created a nonprofit corporation, raised $28.5 million through a bond sale and built itself a 500-bed medium-security prison.

"Frankly," says Peter Lynch, the investment guru recently retired from guiding Fidelity Magellan, the nation's biggest mutual fund, "there is no way to separate investing from gambling." Nevertheless, there are many different ways to gamble. Just because you think it's a hoot to buy a lottery ticket once a week doesn't mean you have the stomach to sit down at the poker table with Amarillo Slim.