SEC to act on disclosure rules for credit raters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. securities regulators are expected to address new conflicts-of-interest and disclosure rules for credit rating agencies within a few weeks, a Securities and Exchange Commission official told Reuters on Monday.

The SEC's chairman has already said the agency plans on addressing new rules for credit raters like Standard & Poor's (MHP.N), Moody's Investors Service (MCO.N) and Fitch Ratings (LBCP.PA) within a few weeks.

Erik Sirri, the SEC's director of trading and markets, elaborated on Monday, saying the agency would address disclosure rules, which include requiring credit raters to disclose more information about how they determine their ratings.

The SEC is also expected to address proposals to crack down on conflicts of interests within the rating firms, which are paid by entities being assessed or by subscribers.

Proposals to address potential conflicts of interest include barring employees from rating the same product they helped structure. Other proposals would prohibit anyone who participates in determining a credit rating from negotiating the fee that the issuer pays for it.

Some proposals such as one that would require rating agencies to differentiate between structured finance products and corporate bonds may not be addressed when the SEC takes up the rules within a few weeks.

"Not sure what we are going to do there yet. This is only what we are going to do in the next few weeks," Sirri told Reuters on the sidelines of an academic event to discuss financial markets.

"It doesn't mean that we would never do them," he said.

(Reporting by Rachelle Younglai; Editing by Bernard Orr)