Weekly Global News Wrap Up: BofAML to pay $42m fine for misleading customers; Wells Fargo mulls merger of wealth units

And Goldman Sachs is investing $500m into women-led and owned firms.

From Reuters: Bank of America Corp’s Merrill Lynch unit admitted to misleading brokerage customers about which firms processed their trades and agreed to pay a $42 million fine under a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The settlement follows a similar agreement with the New York attorney general in a related probe nearly three months ago, under which Merrill Lynch also admitted to wrongdoing and agreed to pay a $42 million fine.

From Reuters: Wells Fargo & Co said Monday it is considering restructuring and possibly combining two of its retail brokerage businesses, a move to increase efficiency among the two legacy units. The two divisions - the private client group overseen by David Kowach and wealth brokerage services overseen by Jay Welker - have long overlapped as both employ financial advisers who work with mass affluent clients.

From CNBC: Goldman Sachs Group Inc will pump $500 million into companies led, founded or owned by women, as it steps up efforts to close the gender investing gap. The program, Goldman Sachs' second geared toward female entrepreneurs, will also help clients invest directly in private, late-stage companies or provide seed capital for women starting their own funds.