The clients most in need of help often get the least access to competent financial advice. But Citi’s global wealth management unit has come up with a way to try to serve this untapped market.

The clients most in need of help often get the least access to competent financial advice. But Citi’s global wealth management unit has come up with a way to try to serve this untapped market.

The clients most in need of help often get the least access to competent financial advice. But Citi’s global wealth management unit has come up with a way to try to serve this untapped market.

Two major Wall Street firms offered to buy back more than $17 billion of troubled auction-rate securities that they had marketed as being as safe and liquid as cash.

Two Wall Street giants agreed to buy back auction-rate securities that were improperly sold to retail customers, likely paving the way for other banks and brokerage firms to take similar actions.

Citigroup was nearing an agreement to buy back more than $7 billion of auction-rate securities from investors to settle claims that it misled clients about the dangers of the investments.

Citigroup was nearing an agreement to buy back more than $7 billion of auction-rate securities from investors to settle claims that it misled clients about the dangers of the investments.

The attorney general of New York, Andrew M. Cuomo, said Citigroup misled investors about the dangers of auction-rate securities and destroyed evidence that his office had requested.

The S.E.C. opened a formal investigation into possible violations of securities laws in connection with Citigroup’s sale of auction-rate securities, the company said.

The Treasury Department and the nation’s four biggest banks said they were ready to kick-start a market for a new tool to support home financing in the latest effort to spur a moribund housing market.