Analyst Rules Could Use Some Analysis

Frank Quattrone is back in the investment business and is taking on research rules, Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in the New York Times. Quattrone thinks Wall Street should try to remove the settlement that forced the separation of investment banking and research. The rules are “denying small companies the access to research analysts,” by forcing pared-down research departments to focus solely on large companies, he says.

And Sorkin says he has a point. As some of the best analysts have left the industry, the quality of research has eroded. “The pendulum has probably swung too far,“ Sorkin writes, “and in the cool light of day, it might be time to lift some of the restrictions.” (More Frank Quattrone stories.)