At the Bell

Unger is named

acting SEC head

* As widely expected, President Bush last week named Laura Unger acting chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Ms. Unger, 40, has been a member of the commission since 1997 and was its only Republican. She replaces Arthur Levitt, who stepped down Feb. 9.

Her temporary position gives President Bush more time to nominate a permanent chairman, who theoretically could end up being Ms. Unger.

Fixed-income

funds decline

* Fixed-income funds experienced across-the-board declines last week as the prospect for more aggressive Federal Reserve rate cuts dwindled.

Despite bond prices rising the previous week with quarterly refunding and stock market weakness, prices went south. The slide began after Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan indicated on Tuesday that the economy is showing signs of reviving.

Annuity promotion:

NASDR lashes out

* National Association of Securities Dealers Regulation Inc. penalized four companies and one individual more than $112,000 for “improper marketing and sale of variable annuities,” according to a statement.

NASDR’s concerns centered on recent advertising and marketing to boost sales of variable annuities (InvestmentNews, Feb. 12).

The sales pitches “failed to adequately disclose that variable contracts purchased in tax-deferred plans provide no additional benefit to the customer,” alleged the NASD’s regulatory arm.

It sanctioned First Union Brokerage Services Inc. and imposed a $32,500 fine. It fined Lutheran Brotherhood Securities Corp. $25,000, Allmerica Investments Inc. $15,000 and Prudential Securities Inc. $10,000.

Ralph C. Evans of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. was fined $10,000 and ordered to pay $20,130.61 in restitution. All settled the charges without admitting or denying any wrongdoing.

American United Life Insurance Co. was also named in the complaint but not fined, according to the statement.

Bank of America sued over reports

* Bank of America in Charlotte, N.C., was sued last week for $81 million for allegedly obtaining thousands of consumer credit reports and illegally selling them.

Rodney Sweetland, an Arlington, Va., attorney, filed the class action in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. He charged that credit reports for 27 plaintiffs were obtained illegitimately by Bank of America employees and illegally resold outside of Bank of America.

Bank of America spokeswoman Shirley Norton, in San Francisco, said the company does not believe there is any merit to the suit.

“We obtain credit reports only for legitimate business purposes,” she said. The company has procedures in place to ensure that credit reports are used only for authorized purposes, she added.

Hancock to sell

insurance in China

* John Hancock Financial Services of Boston is teaming up with Shanghai-based Tianan Insurance Co. to sell insurance policies in Shanghai and eventually in other major cities in China. Hancock is investing $12 million in the joint venture. The deal calls for a fifty-fifty ownership split of the new company – John Hancock Tianan Life Insurance Co. It will sell whole life insurance, term life insurance and fixed annuities.

Hancock is not the only Boston-based insurer with eyes on China. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. is awaiting approval from the Chinese government to begin selling insurance there, a spokesman said.

Correction

* In a Feb. 5 article on the StretchIRA, Robert Wayland was incorrectly identified. He is president of Wealth Advisory Group.

The group has put 700 people through its IRA seminars, including about 75 advisers from Linsco/Private Ledger Financial Services.

The surname of the president of U.S. Advisory Group in Boston is McDonald.