It appears that the fines were proposed in a meeting of Securities Exchange, NASD, and New York Stock Exchange officials on Tuesday. The fines would be part of a settlement of inquiries into the disposal of e-mail messages.
Under US regulations, such firms are required to retain all business communications they have sent, both internally and externally, for three years. These data must be kept in an easily accessible place for at least two years. According to the regulators, the firms failed to comply with these rules.
The regulators made the discovery while investigating possible links between the investment banking business of the firms and the investment recommendations of their stock analysts. The banks failed to produce requested documents related to the procedures for rating companies and evaluating and paying analysts.
The list of the firms also includes the Salomon Smith Barney unit of Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and US Bancorp Piper Jaffrey.