(by Geck Finn)
Fidelity Investments, the biggest U.S. mutual fund company, agreed to pay $2 million in penalities to settle charges by the SEC and the NYSE. A joint investigation by the SEC and the NYSE found that between January 2001 and July 2002, Fidelity Brokerage violated broker-dealer record-keeping requirements of federal securities laws because employees in at least 21 of its 88 branch offices altered or destroyed the firm’s books and records.