SEC Set To Rein In Analysts, But Will It Improve Advice?(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(NATIONAL ISSUE)

Byline: KEN HOOVER

The Securities and Exchange Commission votes Wednesday on new rules that are supposed to rebuild the Chinese Wall between analysts and investment bankers.

The rules would:

- Prohibit investment bankers from supervising analysts or tying their pay to the success of underwriting deals.

- Bar investment bankers from promising a favorable rating to win companies' business.

- Extend to 40 from 25 days the "quiet period" after an IPO, during which analysts can't put out a research report if their firm handled the underwriting. There would be a new 10-day quiet period on subsequent offerings.

- Bar analysts from getting shares of new stock before it is traded publicly, and bar them from trading in a stock 30 days before or five days after issuing a report on the company. And they couldn't trade counter to their recommendation. In other words, they couldn't tell investors to buy while …