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Credit raters to face new conflict limits

Seeking to prevent graders from pandering to the bond issuers, who pay for the ratings, the rules include a strict prohibition on allowing sales motives to influence them.

By Dave Michaels, Bloomberg | Updated on August 27, 2014
Moody's is one of the credit rating agencies that will face new rules.

Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) — Credit-rating firms, whose lapses played a central role in the 2008 financial crisis, will face new restrictions on conflicts of interest under rules adopted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The rules, approved on a 3-2 vote today, require firms including Moody’s Investors Service and McGraw Hill Financial Inc.’s Standard & Poor’s to ensure they follow internal methods when grading debt and revising ratings. They will also have to boost disclosure on their accuracy, including a common way of presenting default and downgrade rates for bonds backed by loans for homes and commercial buildings.

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