Merrill Lynch to pay $415 million for misusing customer cash: SEC

A worker washes windows high atop the Merrill Lynch building in downtown San DiegoThomson Reuters

(Reuters) – Bank of America Corp’s Merrill Lynch unit will pay $415 million and admit to wrongdoing to settle charges that it misused customer cash to generate profits and failed to safeguard their securities from creditors, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday.

An SEC investigation found that Merrill Lynch violated the SEC’s “Customer Protection Rule” by misusing customer cash that rightfully should have been deposited in a reserve account.

(Reporting by Suzanne Barlyn; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)