SECURITIES

SEC, Industry Discuss Derivatives Guidelines: As Congress tries to craft rules to rein in the derivatives business, the Securities and Exchange Commission is discussing voluntary guidelines with six of the nation’s largest derivatives dealers. The genesis of the talks is an April letter to the SEC from the Securities Industry Assn., Wall Street’s main trade group. It proposes periodic reporting to the SEC or other regulators about derivatives risks; industry standards for investor protection; capital standards, and financial statement disclosure for derivatives. The SEC talks involve CS First Boston, Goldman Sachs & Co., Salomon Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co., Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley & Co. None of the firms would comment on the discussions.