WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The Standard & Poor (S&P) rating agency skewed its ratings to avoid disappointing its clients, but the company’s actions contributed to worsening of the financial crisis, US Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement Tuesday.
Holder said Standard & Poor’s leadership ignored senior analysts’ warnings that the company had given top ratings to financial products failing to perform as advertised.
Holder added that the S&P ratings were affected by significant conflict of interest, given that its ultimate goal was to increase profits and market share to favor the interests of issuers over investors.
US agency responsible for enforcing federal security laws the Securities and Exchange Commission, said the S&P intentionally overestimated risky mortgage securities grades and banned it from grading bonds backed by commercial mortgages for one year.
Nineteen US states and the District of Columbia will obtain the remainder of the funds, statement read.
S&P is the world’s largest credit rating agency which, along with Fitch and Moody’s, accounts for nearly 95 percent of credit ratings around the globe.
