Standard & Poor's, Securities And Exchange Commission | featured news

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staff found "apparent failures" at each of the 10 credit rating agencies it examined, including Standard & Poor's and Moody's, the agency said on Friday in its first annual report of credit raters.

The Securities and Exchange Commission faces hurdles proving wrongdoing at credit-rating agencies, the SEC's enforcement chief said in an interview shortly after it was learned that his office may sue Standard & Poor's for breaking securities laws.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) to disclose which employees knew of its decision to downgrade U.S. debt before it was announced last week, the Financial Times said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Standard & Poor's, whose unprecedented downgrade of U.S. debt triggered a worldwide stocks sell-off, is pushing back against a U.S. government proposal that would require credit raters to disclose "significant errors" in how they calculate their ratings.