USA: credit rating agencies - SEC report

Some more on credit rating agencies, following the developments noted in the previous post. The USA's Securities and Exchange Commission has published a "Summary Report of Issues Identified in the Commission Staff’s Examinations of Select Credit Rating Agencies". In the associated press release the SEC noted:

The SEC staff's examinations found that rating agencies struggled significantly with the increase in the number and complexity of subprime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) and collateralized debt obligations (CDO) deals since 2002. The examinations uncovered that none of the rating agencies examined had specific written comprehensive procedures for rating RMBS and CDOs. Furthermore, significant aspects of the rating process were not always disclosed or even documented by the firms, and conflicts of interest were not always managed appropriately"

For further information see:
SEC Report | SEC press release | SEC proposals: June 11 and July 1 |