CFTC Orders Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated to Pay $2.5 Million to Settle Charges of Supervision Failures and Recordkeeping Violations

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued an Order filing and simultaneously settling charges against Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, a registered Futures Commission Merchant, for failing to supervise its employees’ and agents’ handling of the firm’s response to a CME Group Inc. investigation into futures block trade execution and recordkeeping practices at Bank of America, N.A., a Merrill Lynch affiliate.