Pilots want contract before merger

An American Airlines merger with US Airways Group Inc. might not occur during the AMR Corp. unit’s bankruptcy unless pilot groups from the carriers agree on interim contract terms, American’s pilot union warned.

If an accord isn’t reached "in the very near future, in all likelihood there will be no merger before American Airlines exits restructuring," Keith Wilson, president of the Allied Pilots Association, said in a message on the union’s website.

The agreement would set wages, working conditions and terms to protect seniority until a joint contract for pilots at Fort Worth, Texas-based American and their counterparts at the US Airline Pilots Association is negotiated, he said.

The pilot groups, joined by executives from both carriers, began negotiating the accord earlier this month. American, which filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 29, 2011, has said it prefers to assess mergers after leaving court protection. US Airways, based in Tempe, Ariz., has been pushing for a tie-up since January.

5 banks fined $4.5M over fees

WASHINGTON » The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority says five of the country’s largest banks will pay $4.5 million to settle claims they used municipal and state bond funds to pay lobbyists.

The regulatory agency said last week that between 2006 and 2010 Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley made payments to California business lobbying group Cal PSA and requested that those payments be reimbursed as underwriting expenses from the proceeds of municipal and state bond offerings. FINRA also says the firms did not adequately disclose this nature of the fees to issuers. In doing so, they violated fair dealing and supervisory rules.

FINRA is a regulator of securities firms doing business in the U.S.