The NASD is conducting 12 investigations of brokerage firms that it believes may have placed mutual funds on their recommended lists in exchange for directed brokerage activity from the funds Reuters reported Thursday.

The probe is unrelated to the market timing and late trading probes being conducted by the New York State attorney general's office and the SEC.

NASD Vice Chairman Mary Schapiro told members of the House of Representatives Capital Markets Subcommittee that at least one case is imminent.

"We will be announcing a major case very shortly, in the next several weeks," she said.

Schapiro added in an interview with Reuters that the trade is a "quid pro quo" tat creates an undisclosed incentive for brokerages to recommend those particular funds.  

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