New York ? The nation’s 10 biggest brokerages agreed Friday to pay $1.44 billion and fundamentally change the way they do business to settle allegations they misled investors by hyping certain companies’ stocks.

The moves are aimed at restoring public confidence in the stock recommendations made by Wall Street firms.

The settlement calls for the firms — including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston — to pay steep fines; separate their stock-research and investment-banking operations entirely; and pay for independent stock research that would complement their own analysts’ work.

Federal and state regulators began investigating the brokerages after small investors lost millions of dollars on stocks that analysts had advised them to buy but had privately ridiculed. Investigators say the brokerages hyped the stocks of companies they wanted as investment banking clients.

In agreeing to the fines, the brokerages neither admitted nor denied the charges.

“Every investor knows that the market involves risk,” said New York state Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer, who led the inquiry. “Nobody expects a guaranteed profit. But what every investor expects and deserves is honest investment advice — advice and analysis that is untainted by conflicts of interest.”

Citigroup’s Salomon Smith Barney brokerage unit will pay the largest fine: $300 million. But Citigroup chief executive Sanford Weill won a guarantee he would not be prosecuted.

New York Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer answers questions during a news conference in New York. The conference was held Friday to discuss the settlement under which brokerages agreed to pay .44 billion to resolve allegations that they misled investors.

Credit Suisse will pay $150 million. Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank and UBS Warburg will each pay $50 million.

The amounts of the fines were based on the evidence collected against the firms, officials said. It was not clear how much of the fines will go to a restitution fund for investors.

In addition to the $900 million in fines, the 10 firms also will pay $450 million for independent research for investors and $85 million for a nationwide investor-education program.

Spokesmen for many of the firms did not respond to requests for comment. But some portrayed the settlement as a move forward for the industry.