McGraw-Hill says committed to S&P; welcomes reforms

BEIJING, Nov 11 (Reuters) - McGraw-Hill Inc (MHP.N) is committed to its Standard & Poor's unit, and welcomes tougher regulation aimed at further transparency and accountability in the credit ratings industry, its chairman said on Wednesday.

"The regulation that we are talking about, that we are hearing about, is very smart regulation that pushes for more transparency and accountability," Harold McGraw told reporters in Beijing.

The comments came a day after the United States unveiled a draft bill that would make it easier for investors to sue firms such as S&P, Moody's Corp (MCO.N) and Fitch Ratings (LBCP.PA) if they knowingly and recklessly failed to investigate or obtain independent analysis. [ID:nN10357241]

U.S. lawmakers have pushed for more oversight of credit rating firms after the companies failed to spot problems with debt linked to bad mortgages. The implosion of these securities helped contribute to the global financial crisis.

"Through the last two years, we have done a lot of work to strengthen these processes and make them more transparent ... and certainly to be held accountable," said McGraw.

He said he expects financial reform legislation to be approved early next year, adding that the company valued S&P's business potential.

"For us, Standard and Poor's is a high growth global business. We are fully committed to Standard & Poor's, it is a big part of who we are," he said.

McGraw had said in January that it may eventually become appropriate to split off S&P as a separate business.

But during the Beijing visit, he said the tighter regulation could also provide business opportunities for credit rating firms.

"(Regulation) puts the process in the right position to be able, going forward, to see the securitization market start to return," he said.

($=6.83 yuan) (Reporting by Kirby Chien; Editing by Ken Wills)