S&P Creates Risk Oversight Plan

In an effort to rebuild confidence in credit ratings, Standard & Poor's says it has established a risk oversight committee and will hire an ombudsman.

S&P, the world’s largest credit-rating firm, will mandate that loan data for mortgage-backed securities be made available and periodically move analysts from one issuer to another.

The plan also calls for a change in the company's computer models, which will address complaints that S&P and other credit raters didn't react quickly enough to rising mortgage defaults and losses in the mortgage-backed securities market.

Source: Washington Post (04/11/08)