US financial regulators disagree over changes they want to make to the rules governing conflicts of interest for research analysts.

The main areas of contention are the length of time for quiet periods, during which analysts cannot publish research; the treatment of earnings announcements during quiet periods; and personal trading by analysts. Under the present rules, analysts cannot publish or make public appearances 15 days before or after the expiration or waiver of a lock up, during which management and some shareholders cannot sell shares in a company. The NASD, a regulator for the US securities industry, wants to drop the lock-up quiet period, provided analysts include an extra certification stating they have a bona fide reason for publishing.
But the New York Stock Exchange wants to reduce the lock-up quiet time from 15 to five days, according to speakers at a Securities Industry Association conference in New York last week. William Jannace, a director of NYSE regulation, said: "We have concerns on the timing of research reports and they could be issued to help push the price up to coincide with the expiry of a lock up." During the lock-up period, analysts are allowed to publish if there is significant news. The NYSE wants to extend the material news exception to include earnings announcements, which the NASD said was unnecessary. Regulators agreed to eliminate the 10-day quiet period after secondary offerings and unify the quiet period after initial public offerings to 25 days for members of underwriting syndicates. Analysts working for a manager or co-manager underwriting an IPO cannot publish or make public appearances for 40 days after the deal, while other banks in the syndicate are subject to 25 days. They each filed their proposed rule changes with the US Securities and Exchange Commission last week for comment. James Brigagliano, an associate director at the SEC, said: "The comment period is a useful process to gain reaction to the different approaches and we will come out with one unified rule."