单选题 An investment management firm has been hired by SEK Corporation to work on an initial public offering for the company. The firm's brokerage unit now has a sell recommendation on SEK, but the head of the investment-banking department has asked the head of the brokerage unit to change the recommendation from sell to buy. According to the Standards, the head of the brokerage unit would be permitted to:

A. increase the recommendation by no more than one increment (in this ease, to a hold recommendation).
B. place the company on a restricted list and give only factual information about the company.
C. reassign responsibility for rating the stock to the head of the investment-banking department.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 本题主要涉及执业操守标准Ⅰ(B)(独立与客观)的相关规定。对于经纪部门的主管而言，如果其被要求改变针对特定客户公司的投资建议以使其所在公司从中获益，则该主管必须拒绝上述要求以使自己在向客户提供投资建议时保持必要的独立性和客观性。为了避免出现潜在的利益冲突，经纪部门主管所在公司应当停止发布针对该客户公司的投资建议。如果对投资建议的更改结果不符合分析师的实际观点，则上述活动违反了保持独立性和客观性的要求，从而选项A是不正确的。委派投资银行部门进行重新评估将在客观上导致潜在利益冲突的进一步加剧，因而选项C也是不正确的。