Did that settlement regulate things? Has that fixed the problem of analyst conflicts and bank conflicts?
I don’t think so. I think that settlement was arrived at by a very creative and determined attorney general of the state of New York, Eliot Spitzer, but it didn’t complete the job by any means. The firms were fined, to be sure. Various protections were put in. Additional sources of research were provided for. The solution that we’ve seen is companies are walling off their analysts from their investment banking, but they are still under the same corporate umbrella. In my judgment, that makes the problem a little bit better, but it doesn’t cure it. The perceptual image of a firm that is conflicted is still there, and whether it is perceptual or real is questionable. I don’t believe in Chinese walls. I don’t care if you build them higher or thicker. The only answer to this is total separation of research and investment banking, and we don’t yet have that. … [With this settlement] we’ve moved the ball somewhat, but the problem is still very much there. We need to continue to be wary. I t
