AMVESCAP Reaches Final Settlement With Regulators
October 08 2004 - 2:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
AMVESCAP Reaches Final Settlement With Regulators LONDON, Oct. 8
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AMVESCAP PLC today confirmed it has
reached final settlements with the Attorneys General of New York
and Colorado, the Secretary of State of Georgia and the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the company's
previously disclosed civil enforcement actions and investigations
related to market timing. The monetary amounts and other terms of
the final settlements are consistent with AMVESCAP's previously
announced agreements in principle with state regulators and the SEC
staff. "We're pleased to have this final settlement with our
regulators," said Charles W. Brady, executive chairman of AMVESCAP.
"We deeply regret the harm done to fund investors and have taken
strong measures to prevent any recurrence. Our focus going forward
is to maintain the highest ethical standards as we strive to
deliver strong investment performance to our clients around the
world." AMVESCAP has initiated changes across its operations to
help ensure clients' interests come first in all activities. This
year, AMVESCAP initiated a program to significantly increase its
legal, compliance and internal audit capabilities. AMVESCAP also
created a company-wide compliance reporting line that provides
employees and others with a confidential way to voice concerns
about potentially improper activity. In September, we introduced a
new function, Operational Risk Management, and assigned a Chief
Risk Officer to better identify, manage and track risk within the
areas of finance, products and client operations. In addition, AIM
Advisors implemented a number of measures to strengthen controls
and ensure compliance with policies designed to protect the
interest of fund shareholders. They include: * Strengthened daily
monitoring of trading activities * The imposition of a 2%
redemption fee on additional funds believed to be most vulnerable
to harmful short-term trading * The implementation of an enhanced
exchange policy designed to limit exchanges between funds * An
improved fair value pricing policy AMVESCAP is a leading
independent global investment manager dedicated to helping people
worldwide build their financial security. Operating under the AIM,
INVESCO and Atlantic Trust brands, AMVESCAP strives to deliver
outstanding products and services through a comprehensive array of
retail and institutional products for clients around the world. The
Company is listed on the London, New York and Toronto stock
exchanges with the symbol "AVZ." Additional information is
available at http://www.amvescap.com/ . This release may include
statements that constitute "forward-looking statements" under the
United States securities laws. Forward-looking statements include
information concerning possible or assumed future results of our
operations, earnings, liquidity, cash flow and capital
expenditures, industry or market conditions, assets under
management, acquisition activities and the effect of completed
acquisitions, debt levels and the ability to obtain additional
financing or make payments on our debt, regulatory developments,
demand for and pricing of our products and other aspects of our
business or general economic conditions. In addition, when used in
this report, words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates,"
"intends," "plans," "estimates," "projects" and future or
conditional verbs such as "will," "may," "could," "should" and
"would," or any other statement that necessarily depends on future
events, are intended to identify forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They
involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Although we make such
statements based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable,
there can be no assurance that actual results will not differ
materially from our expectations. We caution investors not to rely
unduly on any forward-looking statements. In connection with any
forward-looking statements, you should carefully consider the areas
of risk described in our most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F, as
filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC). You may obtain these reports from the SEC Web site at
http://www.sec.gov/ . DATASOURCE: AMVESCAP PLC CONTACT: Doug Kidd,
Corporate Communications of AMVESCAP PLC, +1-404-479-2922 Web site:
http://www.amvescap.com/
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