The downfall of the stock markets and the accompanying losses, suddenly, have investors opening their eyes to the realities of Wall Street research analysts. The conflicts of interest that had always been existent, have today become the hot topic. There are efforts from many corners to minimize these conflicts and investment banks are under great pressure to restore their credibility.

The bubble has burst, the decade of continuous growth has ended and the losers are searching for reasons and people who can be blamed for their financial losses. Wall Street research analysts are the first scapegoats to the avenging investor community. The boom was a happy time when the share prices moved only in one direction `up', and the paper money that was increasing in value lulled people's senses. In contrast, the downfall of the markets triggered off some self-introspection and a desperate search as to why and where did things go wrong and lead to such erosion of wealth. The Wall Street research analysts who have been the advocates of most of the scrips have suddenly come under the suspicions of the investors. Most investors are now questioning the logic of these analysts in recommending stocks with `buy' and `strong buy', even as those scrips were on a downturn. Angry investors are not stopping there. There have been cases where investors are suing the research firms for the losses they have made following the recommendations of their analysts. Most of the investors are now becoming aware of the conflicts of interest that have been a part and parcel of Wall Street research's sell-side analysts.