S&P replaces president with Citibank exec after U.S. downgrade
reuters
On Monday August 22, 2011, 10:11 pm EDT
SYDNEY/BANGALORE (Reuters) - The chief of Standard & Poor's will step down next
month, to be replaced by a senior Citibank executive, in a move announced a few weeks
after the credit rating agency downgraded U.S. government debt and sparked a row with Washington.
S&P's parent, McGraw-Hill Companies Inc, said on Tuesday that Deven Sharma, who has
served as S&P president since 2007, would step down on September 12, to be succeeded
by Citibank chief operating officer Douglas Peterson.
"S&P will continue to produce ratings that are comparable, forward looking and
transparent," McGraw-Hill said in a statement, adding that Sharma would work on a
strategic portfolio review for the group until leaving at year-end.
The U.S. downgrade on August 5 helped lead to the biggest sell-off in share markets
since the global financial crisis three years earlier and sparked a row with the U.S.
Treasury over some of the agency's calculations in arriving at the new rating.
The U.S. Justice Department is also investigating the ratings agency over its actions
on mortgages leading up to the 2008-2009 crisis, a source familiar with the
matter told Reuters last week.
But the Financial Times, which first reported the news of Sharma's resignation,
quoted unnamed sources on Tuesday as saying his departure was unrelated
to the downgrade or the Justice Department investigation.
The board of McGraw-Hill Companies made the decision to replace Sharma at
a meeting where it also discussed its ongoing strategic review on Monday,
the Financial Times said.
McGraw-Hill directors and executives met on Monday with Jana Partners LLC,
a hedge fund, and the Ontario Teacher's Pension Fund to hear their
arguments that the company should be broken up.
(Reporting by Abhishek Takle in BANGALORE and Wayne Cole and Mark Bendeich in SYDNEY;
reuters
On Monday August 22, 2011, 10:11 pm EDT
SYDNEY/BANGALORE (Reuters) - The chief of Standard & Poor's will step down next
month, to be replaced by a senior Citibank executive, in a move announced a few weeks
after the credit rating agency downgraded U.S. government debt and sparked a row with Washington.
S&P's parent, McGraw-Hill Companies Inc, said on Tuesday that Deven Sharma, who has
served as S&P president since 2007, would step down on September 12, to be succeeded
by Citibank chief operating officer Douglas Peterson.
"S&P will continue to produce ratings that are comparable, forward looking and
transparent," McGraw-Hill said in a statement, adding that Sharma would work on a
strategic portfolio review for the group until leaving at year-end.
The U.S. downgrade on August 5 helped lead to the biggest sell-off in share markets
since the global financial crisis three years earlier and sparked a row with the U.S.
Treasury over some of the agency's calculations in arriving at the new rating.
The U.S. Justice Department is also investigating the ratings agency over its actions
on mortgages leading up to the 2008-2009 crisis, a source familiar with the
matter told Reuters last week.
But the Financial Times, which first reported the news of Sharma's resignation,
quoted unnamed sources on Tuesday as saying his departure was unrelated
to the downgrade or the Justice Department investigation.
The board of McGraw-Hill Companies made the decision to replace Sharma at
a meeting where it also discussed its ongoing strategic review on Monday,
the Financial Times said.
McGraw-Hill directors and executives met on Monday with Jana Partners LLC,
a hedge fund, and the Ontario Teacher's Pension Fund to hear their
arguments that the company should be broken up.
(Reporting by Abhishek Takle in BANGALORE and Wayne Cole and Mark Bendeich in SYDNEY;
