The financial services regulator in the United Kingdom has joined the push to improve standards for investment research and new securities issues.

The Financial Services Authority has announced plans to clarify the standards which it expects investment banks to meet when publishing investment research and in the new issues of securities.

Investment banks must properly manage conflicts of interests if there is to be confidence in the objectivity of investment research and the integrity of the capital raising process.

“In London we have been spared the worst of the abusive practices seen on Wall Street. But we have found evidence of systematic bias in analyst recommendations, and of bad management of conflicts of interest,” said Howard Davies, chairman of the FSA, “The proposals we are publishing today will strengthen the regulatory regime and promote higher standards. They will enhance transparency and outlaw the most blatant abuses of trust. They go with the grain of the US changes, but do not replicate them in every detail. We remain convinced that a regime based on principles, and senior management responsibility, is the right approach.”

The FSA intends to strengthen the regulatory regime to promote higher standards. More specifically, the FSA has provided a clearer regulatory line on acceptable standards of conduct within the current framework of principles and rules.

The key principle concerning conflicts of interest in investment research is that regulated firms should have systems and controls in place to ensure their own interests do not improperly influence the content of research reports.

There would also be specific limitations on personal dealings by analysts both in the securities of the companies they cover and of other companies in the same sector.