Securities and Exchange Commission February 9, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') is extending the comment period for a release proposing a Roadmap for the potential use of financial statements prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (``IFRS'') as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board by U.S. issuers for purposes of their filings with the Commission and amendments to various regulations, rules and forms that would permit early use of IFRS by a limited number of U.S. issuers [Release No. 33-8982; 73 FR 70816 (Nov. 21, 2008)]. The original comment period for Release No. 33-8982 is scheduled to end on February 19, 2009. The Commission is extending the time period in which to provide the Commission with comments on that release for 60 days until Monday, April 20, 2009. This action will allow interested persons additional time to analyze the issues and prepare their comments.

In conjunction with the publication today, in a separate release, of the Commission's final rule amendments to its existing rules governing the conduct of nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (``NRSROs''), the Commission is proposing amendments which would require the public disclosure of credit rating histories for all outstanding credit ratings issued by an NRSRO on or after June 26, 2007 paid for by the obligor being rated or by the issuer, underwriter, or sponsor of the security being rated. The Commission also is soliciting detailed information about the issues surrounding the application of a disclosure requirement on subscriber-paid credit ratings. The Commission is re-proposing for comment an amendment to its conflict or interest rule that would prohibit an NRSRO from issuing a rating for a structured finance product paid for by the product's issuer, sponsor, or underwriter unless the information about the product provided to the NRSRO to determine the rating and, thereafter, to monitor the rating is made available to other persons. The Commission is proposing these rules to address concerns about the integrity of the credit rating procedures and methodologies at NRSROs.