By Maria Hickey, KWMU
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kwmu/local-kwmu-732277.mp3
St. Louis, MO. – Regulators from Missouri, Illinois and other states conducted an on-site inspection of St. Louis-based Wachovia Securities Thursday.
Officials were looking for documents related to the sale and marketing of auction rate securities.
The Missouri Securities Division is under Secretary of State Robin Carnahan's office. That office said the inspection was not a raid.
But spokeswoman Laura Egerdal says Wachovia had not turned over all the requested documents in the last several months.
"We started the investigation in April on requested documents and records from several Missouri banks as part of a national investigation into this," Egerdal said. "And Wachovia has not been fully cooperative in giving us the documents and records we've requested."
Egerdal says the Secretary of State's office received hundreds of calls from investors who have been unable to access money since February when the auction rate securities market was frozen.
After the inspection, the Secretary of State's office said Wachovia officials had cooperated.
Wachovia Securities released a statement Thursday that stated Wachovia is responding to the inquiries from regulators.
Wachovia bought St. Louis-based A.G. Edwards last year and created Wachovia Securities.
Click the "listen" button above to hear more about auction rate securities from University of Missouri-St. Louis business professor Edward Lawrence.