Cedar Rapids-based Rockwell Collins Inc. plans to quadruple its staff in India by 2012 as India looks to spend more than $30 billion over the next five years to modernize its armed forces, Reuters reported. Rockwell opened a design center in Hyderabad last year, where it offers communication and aviation electronics technology. It currently has 70 engineers there and intends to increase that to 300, said T.C. Chan, Rockwell’s managing director for Asia Pacific.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined two Wachovia Corp. divisions more than $4.5 million for violations related to sales of mutual funds and unit investment trusts, the Charlotte Business Journal reported. The biggest fine went to Wachovia Securities for its failure to provide investors with sales-charge discounts and not ensuring that investors received their benefit of net asset value transfer programs. Wachovia has already returned more than $5.4 million to affected customers. The two units settled without admitting or denying wrongdoing. Wells Fargo & Co. acquired Wachovia at the end of last year.

Wells Fargo & Co. announced yesterday that it will record a pre-tax non-cash charge to its fourth-quarter 2008 financial results of $328.4 million related to investments in unspecified perpetual preferred securities. The loss on these securities was previously reported as an unrealized loss on securities available for sales when Wells Fargo reported its financial results on January 28. Due to this change, Wells Fargo’s full-year 2008 net income has been reduced to $2.655 billion, or 70 cents per share, from the previously reported $2.842 billion, or 75 cents per share. For fourth quarter 2008, the company now expects its net loss to be $2.7 billion, or 84 cents per share.

The annual Pappajohn Iowa Business Plan Competition is now open to new and existing businesses that have been in existence for less than six years. The competition is designed to stimulate business development and provide support for strong business plans. A total of $50,000 will be awarded to the top three submitted plans. The first round will take place between March 2 and May 1. During this time, businesses can submit an entry form at www.iowabusinessplancompetition.com, along with an executive summary of their business plan.

A Bank of America Corp. spokeswoman confirmed that the company has eliminated positions in Iowa as part of a planned companywide reduction of 30,000 to 35,000 positions it announced on Dec. 11. “There are some consolidations in Iowa and the Central Region,” said Diane Wagner, a spokeswoman in Chicago, but she said the bank will not break out state or regional figures. Bank of America said in December that the reductions will affect all lines of business and staff units from its banking operations as well as from Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., which it acquired effective Jan. 1. According to the 2008 Book of Lists, Bank of America last year employed 200 people at 15 branch locations in Central Iowa; Merrill Lynch had 18 wealth managers and six support staff.

The Iowa Office of Energy Independence recently met with the Governors’ Biofuels Coalition to discuss opportunities within the ethanol industry. The meeting focused on developing the ethanol market, using a city to regional approach and utilizing federal programs to make E85 more available in certain areas. For more information, go to www.energy.iowa.gov.