BNY Mellon to Pay $1.5 Million to SEC for ESG Fund Labels (1)

A Bank of New York Mellon Corp. unit will pay $1.5 million to settle US Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that it falsely implied some mutual funds had undergone an ESG quality review -- the latest move by the regulator to ramp up scrutiny over how investment products are labeled.

The penalty from BNY Mellon Investment Adviser Inc. is the first that the SEC has extracted from a money manager over the issue since launching a task force focused on environmental, social and governance issues in March 2021. During the Biden administration the agency has grown increasingly focused on how ...