The Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States requested 10 securities firms turn over stock-trading records for the last two weeks of September, opening a review of how Wall Street handles confidential information, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

The examination is aimed at determining whether details about trades big enough to push a stock price up or down were leaked to other firms, Lori Richards, director of the SEC's office of compliance inspections and examinations, was quoted as saying on Tuesday in an interview.

The review may be the first to target a specific period of time for a group of the biggest firms and is focusing on possible insider trading at brokerages that cater to the most profitable customers, including hedge funds, Richards said.

She declined to name the firms. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that they include Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Deutsche Bank.

Richards's unit conducted about 2,400 examinations of brokers, mutual funds and other financial advisers during the last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, according to the agency's annual report.

Her team referred evidence of potential violations to the SEC enforcement division in 223 instances.

Source:Xinhua