Bloomberg reports that a US District Judge has said that he cannot yet sign-off on the $33m Bank of America has agreed to pay to settle a lawsuit brought by regulator The Securities and Exchange Commission over claims that the bank misled investors over the payment of Merrill Lynch bonuses.

The judge, who said that he couldn't 'ignore issues of responsibility' and that he was concerned 'that we have not yet ferreted out all that this court needs to know', has asked for even more information and will not now rule on the matter until 9th September. Critics have suggested that a $33m fine for allegedly misleading investors over the payment of some $3.6bn in bonuses just doesn't smell right.

The New York Post reports that JPMorgan is thought to have agreed to the sale of the warrants it issued to the US government (which give the holders the right to purchase shares at a given price some time in the future) in a public auction run by the Treasury. The proceeds will ultimately go to the Treasury. While JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has been applauded for this move (other TARP recipients like Goldman and Morgan Stanley just bought them back off the government in a behind-closed doors deals), cynics suggest that Dimon may get egg on his face if the arrangement ends up costing the bank a lot more than rivals paid. Cynics, however, are underestimating the savvy Mr Dimon, who will no doubt hedge any downside potential.

And Reuters reports that a US judge has ruled that Goldman Sachs will need to release personnel information on Sergy Aleynikov, the IT guy who is accused of attempting to steal some of the codes to the firm's automated trading programs. Goldman will need to release details of Aleynikov's job application, interview notes, job offer, performance reviews and other information to the accused's lawyers.

The news agency also reports that it looks like State Street hasn't set aside enough money to cover fees and penalties in respect of lawsuits over claims that it misrepresented the degree of risk associated with the sale of certain fixed rate mortgage investments. The firm set aside some $625m for the purpose, but has only $193m left.

And The Guardian reports that Hector Sants, the CEO of UK securities regulator The Financial Services Authority, told the BBC that 'we (the regulator) cannot control City bonuses'. He said that 'that one is for politicians and society as a whole'. And there was us thinking that it should be down the the people that actually ran those businesses!

Finally, the newspaper also reports that Morgan Stanley analysts have been doing some research on historical bear markets, and have tried to work out what this may mean for the future of the equities markets. The upshot ? 'If the aftermath of these 19 secular bear markets is anything to go by, the current rally could go on a bit longer, is likely to stall a few months before the first Fed rate hike, which we expect in Q3 of 2010....and is likely to be followed by some sort of trading range for years to come, because of the structural problems of the financial sector, and household deleveraging as well as the poor state of government finances'. There you have it.

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