Citi settles with SEC to buy back securities
Citigroup has settled with SEC and has agreed to buy back securities worth billions of dollars
Citigroup
has settled with the USA’s
Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC) after an investigation found it had failed to
inform customers, numbering about 40,000, about the true risk of the securities
sold to them.
New York State attorney general Andrew Cuomo said the agreement was a turning
point for investors seeking relief from the collapse of the auction-rate
securities market, BBC News reports.
Citigroup agreed to a plan which would give investors, small businesses and
charities all $7.5bn of their money back from auction rate securities (ARS) by 5
November.
The bank was also required to use its ‘best efforts’ to liquidate by the end
of 2009 all of about $12bn worth of ARS sold to retirement plans and other
institutional investors.
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