Regulation

Minnesota U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson has decided to expedite Ameriprise Financial’s lawsuit against Reserve Funds’ Primary Fund. The court will fast-track the discovery of documents and other supporting information.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is planning its next CCOutreach seminar for Nov. 13 at its Washington headquarters.

The Federal Reserve has moved to ease bank ownership thresholds, allowing private equity firms to acquire larger-sized stakes in banking companies along with board representation.

Expect a pop in equity valuations, increased liquidity and lower trading costs as U.S. and foreign corporations list stocks using International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). That's according to a working paper published by the University Of Chicago Graduate School Of Business.

CHICAGO - In the coming weeks and months, financial officials and members of Congress will be scrambling to revisit a spate of sunsetting tax and accounting laws before the new presidential administration and Congress take over next year.

Global insurance giant AIG sold more than $10.8 billion worth of annuities in the second quarter of 2008—more than any other insurer—and Lehman Brothers’ Neuberger Berman mutual funds managed more than $250 billion.

Bowing into pressure from banks and thrifts, the Department of the Treasury clarified its promise to guarantee money market mutual funds late Sunday. The government will insure money market mutual funds’ $1 net asset value for a year for investments in funds as of close of business last Friday.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced early Friday it has set aside $50 billion from The Exchange Stabilization Fund to insure that no fund in the $3.4 trillion money market fund industry “breaks the buck” for the next year.

Shareholders filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan Thursday against Reserve Funds’ Primary Fund for halting redemption of holdings of $10,000 or more on Tuesday due to the fund falling to 97 cents on the dollar.

Charging that Lord Abbett misleadingly marketed Class A shares on 21 of its funds as offering superior performance than lower-cost Class B and Class C shares, which actually delivered identical performance, investors sued the company Thursday. The investors took issue with paying a 5.75% sales charge on the Class A shares.