The Financial Services Authority (FSA), the UK markets regulator, has published its long-awaited proposals to stamp out the conflicts of interest between equity research and investment.

The proposals come after a six-month review by the FSA into what it calls "systematic bias" in equity research by securities firms on their clients. They broadly echo the $1.4bn (€1.3bn) settlement reached at the end of last year between Eliot Spitzer, the New York state attorney, and Wall Street firms, with the exception that the FSA is not proposing that firms fund the production of independent research.