Despite market antipathy towards differentiating the ratings of structured products with suffices, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed new rules to make them mandatory.
In an open meeting of the SEC last week, Chairman Christopher Cox tabled a tripartite motion to reform the ratings agencies and their treatment of structured products.
"[P]art of the proposal would require credit ratings agencies to differentiate the ratings they issue on structured products from those they issue on bonds, either through the use of different symbols, such as...