Merrill Lynch paying $10M to settle SEC fraud charges

WASHINGTON (AP) — Merrill Lynch is paying a $10 million fine to settle civil securities fraud charges by regulators who accused the firm of misusing customers' order data to make trades for its own account and for failing to disclose trading fees.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the settlement today with Merrill Lynch, which was acquired by Bank of America in January 2009 at the height of the financial crisis. Merrill neither admitted nor denied the allegations under the settlement.

The SEC said the violations occurred from 2002 to 2007. The agency says Merrill's equity strategy desk obtained information on institutional customers' orders from other traders and used it to make trades on Merrill's behalf.

It also said Merrill charged some institutional customers undisclosed fees.