21.12.2007 15:00 Real Estate
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The SEC is examining UBS AG (UBSN.VX) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N), in addition to previously reported investigations of Merrill Lynch & Co Inc (MER.N) and Bear Stearns Co Inc (BSC.N), the Journal said, citing people close to the situation.
The SEC has set up a working group to tackle some three dozen probes, which are in their early stages, the article said.
Regulators are also looking at whether the Wall Street firms put higher values on their own securities than on the ones they assigned to customers' holdings, the Journal reported.
The SEC has specifically spoken to a trader at a now-defunct hedge fund of UBS's Dillon Read unit and a trader from Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) following his assertions in the Journal that the bank had intentionally mismarked government agency and corporate bonds, the newspaper reported.
The regulators are also probing whether Wall Street firms should have moved some off-balance-sheet entities holding mortgage securities to their books earlier, the Journal said.
Representatives for UBS, the SEC and RBC were not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Emily Chasan; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
