Merrill Lynch to pay $15.2m to mutual fund customers

NEW YORK, June 3 (Reuters): Bank of America Corp's Merrill Lynch unit will pay more than $15.2 million to thousands of customers who it steered automatically into buying costlier mutual fund shares than they were eligible for, a US regulator said on Thursday.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said Merrill did not admit or deny wrongdoing in agreeing to the payout, which includes restitution and interest. No fine was imposed.

FINRA said Merrill had maintained an automated system designed to limit customers' purchases of Class C mutual fund shares when cheaper Class A shares were available.

Class A shares carry front-end sales charges. Class C shares typically do not, but impose higher fees and expenses that over longer periods of time can make them more expensive to own.