S&P would oppose SEC regulation of NRSROs.

WASHINGTON -- Standard & Poor's Corp. would vigorously oppose any attempts by the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate rating agencies, the agency told the SEC yesterday.

"Any attempt to impose a regulatory regime on nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSROs) would adversely affect the very important capital market functions performed by rating agencies in the U.S.," the agency said in written comments on a concept release the SEC issued in September.

Regulation would "stifle the very attributes that have made S&Ps' ratings so important -- timeliness, accuracy, innovation, and, most importantly, independence," the agency said.

The concept release said that the SEC is considering possible regulation of NRSROs because it has increasingly relied on, or referred to, them in the rules that it has imposed on market participants in recent years.

Standard & Poor's also said it opposes rules proposed by the SEC in September that would mandate the disclosure of ratings in corporate prospectuses. The proposed rules are "a significant overreaction" to problems that have occurred with derivatives and structured notes, the group said.

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