Merrill Lynch will pay a $100m (€111m) fine for its &quottainted&quot research and has agreed to separate analyst pay from investment banking in an agreement with Eliot Spitzer, the New York State Attorney General, but has escaped without admitting wrongdoing.

Spitzer has been investigating Merrill for over a year in relation to conflicts of interest between its investment banking and research arms. He unearthed evidence including emails showing that Merrill analysts hyped companies with which they had investment banking relationships, while privately rubbishing them.