Standard & Poor's will have to pay a fine of more than 77 million dollars and suspend the issuance of certain ratings for one year. This was established by the plea agreement signed by the rating agency with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the US equivalent of Consob), in relation to the accusation, brought by the State of New York and Massachusetts, of having conducted fraudulent practices on the ratings of certain bonds backed by commercial mortgages.
The amount of the fine will be divided as follows: $58 million to be paid to the SEC, $12 million to be paid to the state of New York and $7 million to be paid to Massachusetts.
Investors depend on rating agencies such as S&P for complex financial products such as commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), but S&P has elevated its financial interests above those of investors by easing standards. with which it establishes ratings to obtain business and then hides such changes from investors”.
The actions of the SEC, which for the first time moves against one of the main US rating agencies, reflect the Authority's commitment to defend "the integrity and transparency of the process" with which ratings are assigned. In addition to the fine, as mentioned, Standard & Poor's will not be able to issue ratings on some of the new commercial mortgage-backed bonds until January 21, 2016.
