Salomon Smith Barney~{!/~}s legal problems are in regard to the conflicts of interest between analysts and investment bankers. With all of the similar scams currently being investigated this is surely not giving corporations a good name. This is impacting the broader business as well. Top officials of the stock exchange met to update rules about these conflicts of interest for not only Salomon Smith Barney, but for the entire industry. These new rules will be directed toward abuse of initial public offerings. Salomon proposed a punishment that included hefty fines and greater separations between departments. But can separating the research department from the investment bankers solve these public offering disputes? The state mentioned that a $100 million dollar settlement might be appropriate considering that to be the standard set by other corporate settlements this year. Maybe for Salomon Smith Barney self-regulation should not be an option. Once the lack of ethics leads to the public getting ~{!0~}ripped off~{!1~} and the perpetrators become so engulfed in greed, why let them handle it. I feel the state should take charge set these new rules, and stop these analyst from releasing this misleading research. Maybe the article is right, lets ban the analyst from participating with prospective corporate clients.