The investment management company Alliance Capital Management LP announced Friday that a unit had received Wells notices from two securities regulators the previous week in connection with separate matters.
In its quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said a Wells notice from the New York Stock Exchange asserted that its SCB LLC unit had failed to properly identify short-sale transactions.
The company said the unit was one of about 20 that received Wells notices from the exchange alleging this deficiency. Alliance Capital said that at SCB the deficiency resulted from a coding problem in an electronic reporting system that was corrected in 2003.
A Wells notice indicates a regulator plans to recommend civil litigation against the recipient, but it gives the company a chance to rebut the need for such action.
Alliance Capital also told the SEC that SCB and a research analyst in the unit had received Wells notices from the National Association of Securities Dealers Inc. alleging conflicts of interest in some securities trading. The company said the NASD staff recommended enforcement actions against SCB and the analyst, who was not identified.
Alliance Capital said, "At the present time, we believe that the outcome of these matters will not have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition."
