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.

Justin F. Ficken, a former broker with Prudential Securities, pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris on Monday to deceptively market timing mutual funds for seven hedge funds between January 2001 and September 2003, earning himself and two other brokers a combined $6 million in commissions.

Identity theft, data loss and other privacy violations are among the leading threats faced by financial institutions. Depending on their nature, they can inflict reputational and brand damage, cause revenue losses and prompt civil liability suits by customers. What's more, regulators are taking an increasingly hard line in these matters. Two new regulatory measures to safeguard investor privacy have far-reaching implications for investment companies, and executives need to take steps to comply.

The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to propose as early as the end of the month rules that would enhance municipal disclosure, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said in an interview.

Market unrest, the credit crisis and an updated FAS 157 are prompting mutual fund companies to be more meticulous about fair value pricing, Deloitte reported Monday in its “2008 Fair Value Pricing Survey,” its seventh annual such report.

With Lehman Brothers filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, investors are fearful their holdings could be decimated, but regulators have been stepping in to reassure them that their mutual fund and brokerage accounts are safe, The Wall Street Journal reports. The Securities and Exchange Commission said that some of its staff were working within Lehman’s offices to ensure customer accounts are protected.

Fidelity Investments reached agreements with New York and Massachusetts officials to buy back at par $300 million of auction-rate securities from its customers by the end of the year, becoming the first retail brokerage firm to settle alleged fraudulent sales practices in the ARS market.

Fidelity will buy back $300 million worth of auction-rate securities from its brokerage customers, according to the Associated Press, citing an individual close to the talks. In so doing, it will settle an investigation by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and the announcement could possibly be made this afternoon.

Mark Schonfeld, the high-profile New York regional director of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has left the SEC after 12 years of service to join Gibson Dunn as co-chair of the securities enforcement practice group. In this position, he will also work closely with the crisis management and white collar defense and investigations groups.

Bruce Bent, chairman of The Reserve and the creator of the first money market mutual fund, is breaking from the pack that has been critical of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposal of the rule governing money funds to lessen their reliance on credit rating agencies, Dow Jones reports.

The top enforcement attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mark Schonfeld, is reportedly leaving next month to join a private law firm.

Edward Jones will pay $7.5 million to California to settle claims that it failed to disclose its revenue-sharing policies to investors. Although it earlier denied the attorney general’s charges, in settling, the firm neither admitted to nor denied the allegations.

The Pension Protection Act is proving to help people better prepare for retirement by easing employers’ liabilities for automatically enrolling workers in retirement savings plans. But millions of middle- or lower-income Americans are still underserved, particularly if they work for small employers that don’t offer a 401(k) plan, The Wall Street Journal reports.

MINNEAPOLIS - Sen. John McCain is the better choice for the financial services industry not for what he would do as president, but rather for what he would refrain from doing, GOP lawmakers said here this week during the Republican National Convention.

An obscure book about mutual funds has begun to arouse the ire of the industry.

AUSTIN, Texas - Making sure your company's 403(b) retirement plan is in compliance by Jan. 1, 2009 can be a daunting task, especially if you haven't gotten started yet.

AUSTIN, Texas - New 403(b) regulations are coming, whether or not plan sponsors and vendors are ready for the changes.

The SPARK Institute has created a document for 403(b) vendors and plans sponsors that outlines technological best practices related to information sharing.

Millions of retirees who are turning 70-1/2 are forced to take money out of their tax-deferred IRAs or 401(k)s each year, or pay a stiff penalty to the government.