'Sham' Market-Timing Loans Cost CIBC $125 Million

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer for $125 million for enabling investors to market time mutual funds through what the regulators called "sham loans."

As a result, whichever company antes up to acquire the bank will get a "clean slate," The Toronto Star reports.

Nonetheless, Standard & Poor's credit analyst Donald Chu warned of exposure to future lawsuits.

Although CIBC neither admitted nor denied the charges, the bank is charged with knowingly financing hedge fund clients' abusive mutual fund trades.

CIBC Chief Executive Officer John Hunkin issued a statement yesterday saying that the bank is "pleased to have settled this matter. We cooperated fully with these investigations [and] added policies and procedures to enhance our abilities to monitor and recognize such activities if they ever were to occur again."