Watch the Credit Rating Agency Hearing Live at 2 PM EST

Credit ratings agencies are under the microscope in a hearing today before a key House subcommittee, prompting the Association for Financial Professionals to step up calls to overhaul Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations (NRSROs).

In formal comments submitted to the House Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises, AFP proposed restricting the activities of the big three credit ratings agencies of Fitch, Moody’s and Standard & Poor solely to credit ratings, as well as implementing rules that encourage direct government support of other non-major NRSROs to increase competition.

Scheduled to testify before the Capital Markets Subcommittee are Stephen Joynt, CEO of Fitch, Gregory Smith, general counsel of the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association, and four other experts. Watch the hearing live.

Read the testimony of the witnesses:

• Mr. Robert Auwaerter, Principal & Head of the Fixed Income Group, Vanguard
• Mr. Robert Dobilas, President and Chief Executive Officer, Realpoint LLC
• Mr. Eugene Volokh, Gary T. Schwartz Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law
• Mr. Stephen W. Joynt, President and Chief Executive Officer, Fitch, Inc.
• Mr. Alex J. Pollock, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
• Mr. Gregory Smith, General Counsel, Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association