At his company’s annual meeting today, David Komansky, chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch apologized for his firm’s lapse of integrity in equity research.

“Last week we reached agreement to include added disclosure in our research reports that goes far beyond the current industry standard,” he said. “We believe strongly in the integrity of our research. It has served investors well for many decades. We have operated under policies and procedures designed to protect our integrity and the interests of our clients.”

“The e-mails that have come to light are very distressing and disappointing to us. They fall far short of our professional standards, and some are inconsistent with our policies. We regret that, and we further regret that the perception of our research integrity has clearly been affected,” he said. “We have failed to live up to the high standards that are our tradition, and I want to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to our clients, our shareholders and our employees.”

Komansky said he wants to do more than just apologize. “I commit to you today that we are addressing this problem squarely. We will take meaningful and significant actions to restore investor confidence. We will redouble our enforcement of existing policies, and take strong actions against anyone who violates them. We will also adopt some new policies that will help us restore confidence in the integrity of the research process. This is the objective as we continue discussions with the New York Attorney General’s office.”

He also pledged to work with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Association of Securities Dealers and the New York Stock Exchange to help set new rules for research.