FINRA imposes fine of $300k on Wachovia Capital Markets

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has censured and fined Wachovia Capital Markets LLC, a division of Charlotte-based Wachovia Corporation, with $300,000 for violation of FINRA's research analyst conflict of interest disclosure.

"This case strikes at the heart of FINRA's research-disclosure program, which was put into place in 2002 in part to combat incentives that could lead to biased research," says Susan Merrill, FINRA executive vice president and chief of enforcement."These critical reforms require firms to provide investors with information about actual and potential conflicts of interest that could influence analysts' conclusions about investing in publicly traded companies. Wachovia failed to ensure that certain of its research reports contained this vital information."

Source: The press release can be accessed at :2007NewsReleases/P037532

For more information, please visit www.finra.org.

About FINRA:

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is the largest non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business in the US. FINRA watches over about 5,100 brokerage firms, 174,000 branch offices and more than 675,000 registered securities representatives.

It was created in July 2007 through the consolidation of NASD and the member regulation, enforcement and arbitration functions of the NYSE. It has approximately 3,000 employees and operates from Washington, DC, and New York, NY, with 15 District Offices around the country.

"The creation of FINRA is the most significant modernization of the self-regulatory regime in decades," said Mary L. Schapiro, Chief Executive Officer of FINRA. "With investor protection and market integrity as our overarching objectives, FINRA is an investor-focused and more streamlined regulator that is better suited to the complexity and competitiveness of today's global capital markets."