NATIONAL

ACE FIRES TWO, SUSPENDS THREE

Ace Ltd., a Bermuda-based insurer led by Evan Greenberg, fired two employees and suspended three after an internal investigation prompted by charges from New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

Geoffrey Gregory, president of Ace Casualty Risk, and Patricia Abrams, an employee in the unit, were fired, Ace said in a statement. Abrams pleaded guilty last month to charges of bid-rigging.

Ace began its review after Mr. Spitzer sued Marsh & McLennan Cos., the world’s largest insurance broker, for steering clients to insurers that paid it the highest fees and fabricating bids to create the appearance of competition. Marsh Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Greenberg, Evan’s brother, was forced to resign after Mr. Spitzer refused to negotiate with him. Ace didn’t identify the employees who were suspended.

– Bloomberg News

GM RECALLS NEARLY 1.5 MILLION VEHICLES

General Motors Corp. said yesterday it was recalling nearly 1.5 million vehicles in North America, ranging from 2002 to 2005 models. Spokesman Alan Adler said the world’s largest automaker reported the recalls – four in all – to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Oct. 27. GM has recalled 10.47 million vehicles in North America so far this year, more than the 7.8 million for all of 2003, Adler said. The latest recalls involve 1,496,056 vehicles, including 946,817 sport utility vehicles. The SUVs are the 2002-2004 Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy and Oldsmobile Bravada and the 2004 Buick Rainier. Adler said the tail lamps could malfunction on the vehicles. The company has identified two crashes, one with injury, possibly related to the malfunction, Adler said. A second recall involves the 2003 Chevrolet Cavalier and Pontiac Sunfire for tail lamp and turn-signal malfunctions. The total number of vehicles: 339,008. Adler said the malfunction may have caused at least three crashes, none involving injuries. A third recall involves the 2003 Chevrolet Malibu, Pontiac Grand Am and Oldsmobile Alero. The problem: the accelerator could stick and not return to idle. The number of vehicles involved is 204,317, Adler said, noting the company identified the problem through warranty information. The final recall involves the 2004-2005 Cadillac XLR and the 2005 Chevrolet Corvette for a possible brake-fluid leak discovered in field tests, Adler said. The number of vehicles in the recall is 5,914, he said. Owners will be notified by GM through the mail and repairs will be made free of charge at GM dealerships.

– Associated Press

REGULATORY

SPITZER SETTLES MUTUAL FUND TIMING CASE WITH FREMONT

Fremont Investment Advisors of San Francisco has agreed to pay $2.1 million in restitution and $2 million in civil penalties to end a mutual fund timing case, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced yesterday. Fremont was accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Spitzer of allowing market timing and late trading of its mutual funds to benefit a few select clients at the expense of most investors, Mr. Spitzer said. In addition to the payments, Fremont also agreed to what Mr. Spitzer called enhanced ethics and compliance controls. Mr. Spitzer said Fremont allowed the improper trading while stating in its prospectus that it “does not permit excessive short-term trading, or other abusive trading practices.” He said Fremont allowed preferred investors to do improper, short-term trading of shares of its Fremont Global Fund and U.S. Micro-Cap Fund at the expense of other share holders. In one agreement, Fremont allowed an investor to engage in market timing as long as an investment was made in Fremont’s New Era Value Fund and left there to boost that fund’s value, Spitzer said. A Fremont spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

– Associated Press

WACHOVIA AGREES TO PAY $37 MILLION TO SETTLE SEC ALLEGATIONS

Wachovia Corp., the fourth-largest American bank, said it agreed to pay $37 million to settle disclosure violations with the Securities and Exchange Commission involving share purchases made during the Wachovia and First Union Corp. merger. The two banks failed to disclose in regulatory filings the total number of First Union shares that Wachovia bought before the merger was complete, according to statement from the SEC. Wachovia neither admitted or denied wrongdoing, the SEC said. First Union based in Charlotte, N.C., bought Wachovia, based in Winston-Salem, N.C. for $14.9 billion in September 2001 and kept the Wachovia name.

– Bloomberg News