Change at the top for the most discussed among the American rating agencies. On 12 September Deven Sharma will leave the presidency of Standard & Poor's to make way for Douglas Peterson, a former executive of the banking giant Citigroup. The news, anticipated by the Financial Times, was confirmed by McGraw-Hill, parent company of the rating agency.
According to agency sources quoted by the British newspaper, Sharma's resignation would have nothing to do with the controversial downgrading of US debt, which took place less than three weeks ago. The decision would rather be linked to the choice to separate the rating activities from those of analysis and data collection.
“As announced at the end of last year – explains McGraw-Hill's number one, Harol McGraw, in a note – Standard & Poor's has been split into two separate companies: S&P, which brings together the rating business, and McGraw-Hill Financial. Deven helped us build these two high-growth businesses and we started looking for new leadership for S&P.”
President since 2007, Sharma will move on to work on strategically strengthening McGraw-Hill until the end of the year, when he will leave the company permanently.
