Keefe, Bruyette & Woods
is suing AmTrust Financial Services (
AFSI.PC+3.1%), one of its underwriting clients, alleging that AmTrust's plan to delist almost $1.2B of preferred stock and notes would harm KBW's reputation and hurt individual investors, as well, the
Wall Street Journal reports.
In January, AmTrust said it wants to delist all six series of its preferred stock and two series of subordinated notes from the NYSE because the costs and burdens of keeping the listings would exceed the benefits due to the small number of record holders and low daily trading volume.
Some critics of the AmTrust plan say the delisting will allow it to be less transparent about its finances. Last year, AmTrust had disclosed the the SEC was investigating its accounting practices and other matters since 2013.