A Public apology on April 26th by David Komansky, chief executive of Merrill Lynch, for ethical breaches by some of his securities analysts, may deflect some of the bad publicity that has hit Merrill's share price and that may even threaten its survival as an independent firm. There might, too, be some relief at Merrill now that an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into conflicts of interest has widened to other firms. This week the SEC asked all big investment banks to hand over records of internal messages that might have crossed the Chinese wall between analysts and investment bankers. Merrill is still under investigation, though, by New York state's attorney-general, Eliot Spitzer, and it might yet face criminal charges.
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