Briefly

Schield Management Co., a Denver-based investment advisor, and two employees agreed to pay $80,000 in penalties in a case charging that the firm falsely advertised its performance for nearly five years. The Securities and Exchange Commission said the firm--aided and abetted by its president, Marshall Schield, and son Troy Schield--advertised investment performance based on models that benefited from hindsight. Marshall Schield and the Schields’ attorney were unavailable to comment. . . .

New York-based Brown Bros., Harriman & Co., the oldest privately held U.S. bank, said it will exit the brokerage business to focus on managing money for wealthy individuals. . . . Ipass Inc. became the latest casualty of the depressed initial-public-offering market. The firm, a global computer networking provider, canceled plans to raise $100 million in a stock sale. Meanwhile, an energy-related IPO that braved the market got a decent reception Wednesday: Shares of NRG Energy (ticker symbol: NRG), an independent power generator, rose $1.63 to $16.63 on their first day of trading on the NYSE. The firm is majority-owned by Northern States Power.