“Since I left the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2007, many important steps have been taken to improve the quality of credit ratings and to increase the accountability, transparency and oversight of rating firms, which play an important role in the financial system. These steps include the implementation of important reforms to improve internal controls and the avoidance of conflicts through the Credit Rating Agency Reform Act. Of course, the passage and implementation of Dodd-Frank in 2010 further strengthened existing regulation.”

“But in speaking with investors and other market participants about ratings, it is clear that there are still three principal concerns that need to be addressed and that an SEC Roundtable will discuss on Tuesday. First, how best to reduce “ratings shopping” (soliciting multiple rating agencies for the most favorable rating) in the structured finance markets; second, how to increase competition beyond the Big Three rating organizations — Fitch, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s — and third, how to clarify the use of ratings and eliminate government mandates.”

***

Read the full op-ed from POLITICO here.