Citigroup and Merrill also claim to have had success in selling home loans to customers of their brokerage units.

But earlier this year, the board replaced Merrill with an independent consultant that did not have a brokerage unit in its operations.

The brokerage unit showed marked improvement, with pre-tax profit up 104 percent from the quarter a year earlier.

American Express, for example, said earlier this year that it was spinning off its brokerage unit to focus on credit cards.

But they acknowledge that the firm has had an inadequate record of hiring and promoting blacks in its brokerage unit.

While Fidelity's brokerage unit offers separate account services, its vaunted fund management team does not participate.

Under its umbrella is a brokerage unit, an insurance company and major commercial, consumer and investment banks.

The brokerage unit posted a quarterly loss of $915 million, a record for a Wall Street firm.

The firm's brokerage unit made $211 million before taxes, down from $364 million in the 1989 quarter.

The bank admitted the offense, apologized and reorganized its brokerage units.