The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined Credit Suisse Securities LLC's U.S. arm $275,000 for allegedly failing to fully comply with one term of a 2003 settlement that requires firms to make independent research available to their customers.
According to Finra, beginning in 2004, Credit Suisse failed "on a number of occasions" to post all of the required and current independent research to its Web site. The firm posted independent research for companies not covered by Credit Suisse and was allegedly delayed in providing independent research "in a timely manner after offerings," according to Finra. It claims that from April 2007 to September 2007, Credit Suisse failed to make available to its customers 32,500 required reports.
A 2003 industrywide deal called for firms to pay a combined $460 million over five years for independent research. The agreement was to settle allegations that some Wall Street coverage was biased in order to allow the issuing firms to get access to investment banking and other business.
