Update on regulatory outlook for credit rating agencies
Four major improvements over original measure passed by House
- SEC has not been injected into analytical process, criteria or methodology credit agencies use to arrive at their opinions
- Legislation does not diminish rights, including First Amendment protection, that S&P already possesses under applicable laws
- New firms registering to become Nationally Recognized Statistical Ratings Organizations must provide evidence that capital market participants regard them as issuers of quality credit opinions
- Law pre-empts regulation by individual states