Merrill Lynch Pays SEC $415 Million To Settle Customer Protection Rule Violation

Mark Melin

Published onJune 23, 2016

Updated on May 13, 2021

Financial adviser Merrill Lynch has agreed to pay a $415 million fine and admit wrongdoing to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges it misused customer deposits, putting customer assets at risk in order to the benefit of the firm’s proprietary trading.

Rule designed to keep customer assets safe in case of bankruptcy violated

The SEC charged Merrill Lynch violated its Customer Protection Rule by misusing customer cash that rightfully should have been deposited in a protected reserve account. Had the firm experienced a bankruptcy, customer assets, mandated to be held in a...

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Mark Melin

Mark Melin is an alternative investment practitioner whose specialty is recognizing the impact of beta market environment on a technical trading strategy. A portfolio and industry consultant, wrote or edited three books including High Performance Managed Futures (Wiley 2010) and The Chicago Board of Trade’s Handbook of Futures and Options (McGraw-Hill 2008) and taught a course at Northwestern University's executive education program.

Merrill Lynch Pays SEC $415 Million To Settle Customer Protection Rule Violation

Rule designed to keep customer assets safe in case of bankruptcy violated

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