A U.S. regulator fined a unit of Credit Suisse Group AG $275,000 for failing to make independent research available to customers, as required under an industrywide settlement over alleged faulty stock research.

In a settlement brokered by then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, 13 financial services firms were required to provide clients with independent stock research, as well as their own. The settlements were intended to resolve allegations that Wall Street analysts issued inflated or misleading stock research to help win investment banking business.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on Monday said Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC failed to provide the required research on a variety of occasions from 2004 to 2008. It said that from April to September 2007, the company failed to make 32,500 required reports available to customers.

Credit Suisse did not admit wrongdoing in agreeing to settle but consented to FINRA's findings. The regulator oversees more than 4,800 brokerages.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

New York Investment Credit Suisse