Citigroup and UBS Agree to Buy Back Risky Securities

The regulator in USA look after the interest of consumers. I hope that the regulator in Singapore can follow the same example. Tan Kin Lian

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/business/12auctions.html?ref=business

December 12, 2008
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two banking giants, Citigroup and UBS, agreed on Thursday to buy back nearly $30 billion in risky auction-rate securities that regulators said the banks had marketed to customers as safe.

The Securities and Exchange Commission formally approved the settlements with the two banks after preliminary deals that were reached in August.

Securities regulators in Texas and New York also announced details of final agreements with the banks.

Tens of thousands of the banks’ customers bought the auction-rate securities before the $330 billion market for them froze in mid-February, the S.E.C. said in announcing the final accords.

The new settlements were the largest return of customer money in the agency’s history and all the investors will be made whole, the chairman of the S.E.C., Christopher Cox, said in a statement.

Citigroup and UBS of Switzerland neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing under the settlements.

Citigroup agreed to buy back about $7 billion in the securities from affected customers, while UBS’s repurchase totaled $22.7 billion.

The settlements require federal court approval. The banks agreed to refrain from future violations of securities laws.