Charles Schwab Corp. will pay $200m to settle a suit over its YieldPlus bond fund. In agreeing to the settlement, the company is not admitting liability, but said it “allows the company to avoid the distraction and uncertainty of a trial and the further possibility of a protracted appeals process.” The YieldPlus fund had been designed to invest in a variety of fixed-income products, but the credit crisis, which froze lending, hammered the fund’s returns. The settlement has put a crimp in the company’s previously reported first-quarter results, reducing earnings by $105m, or 9 cents per share.