Sun Life Unit Settles SEC Proceedings

By Staff Writer

March 31, 2004 at 07:00 PM

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NU Online News Service, March 31, 2004, 5:22 p.m. EST – Sun Life Financial Inc., Toronto, says a U.S. subsidiary has agreed to pay $50 million to settle administrative proceedings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.[@@]

The SEC was reviewing disclosure of brokerage allocation practices in connection with fund sales at Sun Life's Massachusetts Financial Services Company unit.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Massachusetts Financial "neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing," Sun Life says in a statement about the agreement.

Sun Life and its U.S. affiliates "are cooperating with the SEC in [its] industry-wide investigations into market-timing related issues and directed brokerage and revenue-sharing arrangements with distributors," Sun Life says.

Sun Life owns 93% of Massachusetts Financial.

Sun Life notes that a spokesman for the New York attorney general's office has declined to comment on whether it plans to join in the SEC action.

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