Bank of America fined $415 million for misuse customers funds

Bank of America (BA) accepted the misused billions of dollars in customer funds trades that benefited the firm.

The BA bank will pay $415 million following the claims that its Merril Lynch unit engaged in complex transactions to reduce the amount of client funds that had to be set aside in reserve accounts.

The $356 million fine of BA is by far the largest for a firm accused of violating the SEC's customer protection rule.  The head of SEC's Andrew J.Ceresney said the rule concerning the safety of customer cash and securities are fundamental protections for investors and impose lines that simply can never be crossed. Ceresney added that from 2009 to 2012 Lynch engaged in trades that artificially reduced the amount of customer funds that had to be set aside.