...
Under questioning by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), Raymond W. McDaniel, Jr. of Moody's, Deven Sharma of S&P, and Stephen Joynt of Fitch said the analysts in charge of ratings for the now-disgraced firms are still employed.
At the hearing today, the exchange between Speier and the agency chiefs was particularly contentious.
"You had rated AIG and Lehman Brothers as AAA, AA minutes before they were collapsing. After they did fail, did you take any action against those analysts who had rated them?" Speier asked. "Did you fire them? Did you suspend them? Did you take any actions against those who had put that kind of a remarkable grade on products that were junk?"
McDaniel answered first. "No, we did not fire any of the analysts involved in either AIG or Lehman," he replied. " ....
S&P's Sharma said his analysts also were not fired. Joynt of Fitch said the same. He said that Fitch analysts in charge of Lehman Brothers and AIG were "disappointed" and "surprised."
...
In an interview with the Huffington Post after the exchange, Speier said she was "flabbergasted" by the responses.
"It just makes the case over and over again of the lack of accountability in the financial services industry," she said. "It's heads they win, tails the public loses."
No comments:
Post a Comment