Regulators Just Say No to Stockbrokers’ Bashes

This year, the annual convention of state securities regulators will be in keeping with the austere spirit of the 1990s.

When the regulators meet in Orlando, Fla., in two weeks, there will be none of the lavish soirees, free liquor, food and entertainment that were furnished to past conferences by big Wall Street brokerages--the firms that the regulators are charged with regulating.

The board of the North American Securities Administrators Assn. voted to ban the traditional entertainment after a Los Angeles Times story last year raised questions about whether it constituted a conflict of interest.

At last year’s convention in New Orleans, officials from the agencies that enforce state securities laws were wined and dined at five parties sponsored by brokerages. Among them was an elegant, poolside jazz brunch put on by Prudential Securities.

This year, the regulators are due to discuss Prudential’s sales of limited partnership interests, a subject of investigations pending in all 50 states.

Scott Stapf, a spokesman for the association, said the group’s board voted “to eliminate sponsorship of social events by industry groups.” The board also banned gifts, such as coffee mugs and tote bags, that had been distributed by brokerage firms at earlier conventions.

Stapf said the propriety of the free entertainment had been a subject of debate among the regulators for several years.