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CCH Issues New Briefing: SEC Adopts Credit Rating Reforms Addressing Conflicts; Other Aspects Deferred

(RIVERWOODS, ILL., December 18, 2008) – Commenting on the role of credit rating agencies in the current financial crisis, SEC Commissioner Kathleen Casey noted that the largest rating agencies awarded their highest ratings to complex debt instruments that were undeserving of investment grade status. Now, CCH Principal Securities Law Analyst Jim Hamilton, JD, LLM has examined the issues surrounding the rating agencies and the SEC’s response to date in a new Briefing titled SEC Adopts Credit Rating Reforms Addressing Conflicts; Other Aspects Deferred. CCH is part of Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, a leading provider of research information and software solutions in key specialty areas for legal and business professionals (business.cch.com).

In the Briefing, Hamilton lays out the role of credit rating agencies in the issuing of securities and the parts that regulation and non-regulation have played in defining the agencies’ status. His analysis illuminates a number of areas for possible future regulation and details the regulatory steps taken by the SEC to address conflicts of interest on the part of the agencies and their employees.

Hamilton is a prolific blogger on current issues in the securities field. Jim Hamilton’s World of Securities Regulation can be found at http://www.jimhamiltonblog.blogspot.com/.

Hamilton has written and spoken extensively on federal securities law and has been cited as an authority by a federal court. His analysis of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Manual: A Handbook for the Act and SEC Rules, is considered a definitive explanation of the Act. In addition to his many books and articles, Hamilton serves as a leading contributor to the industry-standard publication, the CCH Federal Securities Law Reporter.

About Wolters Kluwer Law & Business

Wolters Kluwer Law & Business is a leading provider of research products and software solutions in key specialty areas for legal and business professionals, as well as casebooks and study aids for law students. Its major product lines include Aspen Publishers, CCH, Kluwer Law International and Loislaw. Its markets include law firms, law schools, corporate counsel and professionals requiring legal and compliance information. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, a unit of Wolters Kluwer, is based in New York City and Riverwoods, Ill.

Wolters Kluwer is a leading global information services and publishing company. The company provides products and services globally for professionals in the health, tax, accounting, corporate, financial services, legal and regulatory sectors. Wolters Kluwer has annual revenues (2007) of €3.4 billion ($4.8 billion), maintains operations in over 33 countries across Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific and employs approximately 19,500 people worldwide. Wolters Kluwer is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.wolterskluwer.com.

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