B of A to buy back $4.5B in securities
Bank of America says it will buy back about $4.5 billion of auction-rate securities as part of a settlement agreement with Massachusetts regulators.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank says it continues to cooperate fully with ongoing investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Attorney General’s Office.
Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) joins eight other big investment banks that have agreed to buy back a total of more than $50 billion of the securities.
The auction-rate securities market involved investors buying and selling instruments that resembled corporate debt, except the interest rates were reset at regular auctions, some as frequently as once a week payday advance. The market for the securities collapsed in February.