NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Citigroup CEO Sanford Weill proposed a rule to further separate the company's investment banking and research groups at a time when the company has come under scrutiny for the connection between its units, according to a newspaper report Monday.

The changes Citigroup proposed, prompted by corporate scandals involving the alleged connection between the compensation of researchers and the acquisition of new banking business by financial firms, are similar to the recent proposal by the National Association of Securities Dealers, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The NASD rule, which has yet to be approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, says that researchers who have participated in any meetings with a potential banking client prior to being signed on as its underwriter can't write any reports on that company.

Citigroup's Salomon Smith Barney investment firm has been scrutinized for this practice, particularly related to one of its top researchers, Jack Grubman, who openly attended meetings to pitch new business while producing reports on the same companies. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is considering filing civil and criminal charges against Grubman and Citigroup for their alleged promotion of stock and misleading of investors , the Journal said.

The proposal that Citigroup's executives made to the SEC, New York Stock Exchange and NASD dated July 12 moves beyond what other firms have suggested. It goes so far as to ask regulators not to allow researchers to attend any investment banking meetings where new business is being solicited, the report said.

Spitzer said the proposal would not affect his investigation of the company, the Journal reported.