what are the general functions carried on by underwriters in stock exchange?

Answer 1

The underwriters are many and varied, primarily financial and investment firms and banks, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley etc., are multifaceted financial firms that provide a wide array of services to investors, corporations and governments among others. The services include but are not limited to origination and underwriting of securities (IPO valuation and distribution) and they act as advisers for Mergers and Acquisitions. These would be done through the Investment Banking department. They provide liquidity i.e. make markets in stocks, corporate debt, government debt and structured products. These functions will be done in Equity Capital Markets and Debt Capital Markets divisions respectively. A lot of these firms manage money for high-net worth individuals. This is done in the private wealth department. Lastly, these investment banks have proprietary traders (trading for own account), internal hedge funds and internal private equity.