US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) staff found “apparent failures” at each of the 10 credit rating agencies they examined, including Standard Poor’s, Moody’s, and Fitch, the agency said in its annual report on credit raters.
The SEC sent letters outlining the staff’s concerns to each of the ratings firms and demanded a remediation plan within 30 days, an agency official said.
The SEC staff said concerns include failures to follow ratings methodologies and failures in making
timely and accurate disclosures.
The staff report did not single out by name any credit-rating agency for questionable actions, but it did describe specific problems it found.
Two of the three largest firms, for example, did not have specific policies in place to manage conflicts of interest when rating an offering from an issuer who is also a large shareholder of the firm. – (Reuters)
