BofA set to settle with regulators over ARS

Bank of America Corp. said yesterday that it is ready to settle with state and federal regulators over a probe into its marketing of auction rate securities. The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank has been negotiating with the Securities and Exchange Commission and with regulators in Massachusetts and New York for nearly a month, seeking a deal to provide liquidity relief to clients holding the securities, the bank said in a statement. “We are ready and willing to enter into an agreement that follows the same basic terms of previously announced settlements,” Bank of America spokeswoman Shirley Norton said in the statement. “We understood we had reached such an agreement in principle nearly two weeks ago.” The bank’s signal to settle comes after New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo slapped eight Bank of America executives with subpoenas this week, nudging the bank into action, an insider told Bloomberg. William Galvin, attorney general in Massachusetts, earlier this week also told Bloomberg that his office has not been able to wrap up a settlement with the banking giant. In recent weeks, Citigroup Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JP Morgan Chase & Co., Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. and Morgan Stanley, all of New York; UBS AG of Zurich, Switzerland, and Wachovia Corp., also of Charlotte, have settled with regulators.