NATION

NATION
H & amp;R Block accused of fraud
WASHINGTON -- Securities regulators have accused H & amp;R Block Financial Advisors of fraud in selling customers nationwide some $16 million of Enron bonds in late 2001 and touting them as a safe investment when the energy-trading giant had begun to collapse.
The National Association of Securities Dealers, the brokerage industry's self-policing organization, announced its complaint Monday against the investment division of the world's largest tax preparer. Companies can be fined or suspended from the securities industry if found to be in violation of NASD rules in a disciplinary hearing process.
H & amp;R Block Inc., based in Kansas City, Mo., disputed the allegations and said it would contest them through the NASD's hearing process.
Former exec still on payroll
SAN FRANCISCO -- Cost-cutting stock brokerage Charles Schwab Corp. is keeping its recently ousted chief executive David Pottruck on its payroll under a $10 million contract that also contains potentially lucrative stock awards.
The San Francisco-based company outlined its arrangement with Pottruck in a quarterly report filed Monday, nearly four months after Schwab's dissatisfied board demanded his resignation.
Pottruck helped build Schwab into one of the nation's best-known brokerages, but a prolonged financial funk marked by steadily declining revenue, a crumbling stock price and thousands of employee layoffs culminated in his abrupt departure in late July.
SEC to propose new rules
WASHINGTON -- Federal regulators are proposing a plan to strengthen governance at the nation's stock exchanges following a scandal at the New York Stock Exchange and government sanctions against several others, to ensure that they serve investors' interest.
The SEC commissioners were voting at a public meeting today to propose new rules for the exchanges' governance, ownership structure and required disclosures. They could eventually be formally adopted after a comment period of several months.
Associated Press