Regulation

SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro may have lost the first round in her push to reform the $2.6 billion money market mutual fund industry, but the fight has only just begun.

Noelle Maloney, who was second in command of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's troubled internal watchdog office, has left the agency.

Even as Merrill Lynch moved to a $40 million settlement in response to a class action lawsuit this week, some experts ask whether it will be enough to satisfy some several thousand advisors who left the firm following its acquisition by Bank of America.

Merrill Lynch formally agreed to a $40 million settlement to a class action lawsuit brought by two of its former advisors regarding their deferred compensation on Friday, a decision that will potentially impact more than a thousand advisors with production levels of $500,000 and less.

ICI President and CEO Paul Schott Stevens said the "exhaustive record" before the SEC did not support the changes that it was proposing.

Merrill Lynch is expected to head into a New York court Friday and hammer out a settlement that could potentially affect the deferred compensation of thousands of financial advisors that have left the firm since its 2008 combination with Bank of America.

The asset-management industry scored a victory when SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro abandoned her quest to impose tougher rules on money-market mutual funds, but some expect the celebration will be brief.

Here is the text of the statement by Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro on money market mutual fund reform.

Mary Schapiro, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, canceled a vote on a proposal to tighten money-market fund rules amid opposition from fellow commissioners and a lobbying campaign by fund companies.

The SEC rolled out its first whistle-blower award on Tuesday, a $50,000 payment to an anonymous informant who helped bring down a Ponzi scheme. So far, the government has recovered $150,000.