I have Ehics qustion Example 3 (Research Independence and Intrafirm Pressure): Walter Fritz is an equity analyst with Hilton Brokerage who covers the mining industry. He has concluded that the stock of Metals & Mining is overpriced at its current level, but he is concerned that a negative research report will hurt the good relationship between Metals & Mining and the investment banking division of his firm. In fact, a senior manager of Hilton Brokerage has just sent him a copy of a proposal his firm has made to Metals & Mining to underwrite a debt offering. Fritz needs to produce a report right away and is concerned about issuing a less-than-favorable rating. Comment: Fritz’s analysis of Metals & Mining must be objective and based solely on consideration of company fundamentals. Any pressure from other divisions of his firm is inappropriate. This conflict could have been eliminated if, in anticipation of the offering, Hilton Brokerage had placed Metals & Mining on a restricted list for its sales force. i Cant understand the comment. is the company may accept the underwrite and restricted their customers from buy in the underwrite ?
If the company is doing investment banking business with a firm, the company should be on a restricted list. The analyst could then put out a report containing only factual information due to the conflict of interest with the firm.
“I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” -Captain Renault http://seekingalpha.com/article/277084-linkedin-underwriters-initiate-with-buy-ratings