Do these new rules adopted by the SEC go far enough? Will they instill public confidence in all those credit ratings that proved so wrong? I guess we'll just have to see. These rules were proposed back in June and they do the expected. The rules ban the rating agencies from advising banks on how to package deals to secure favorable ratings and ban gifts over $25 from clients. The rules also ban making ratings in cases where the agency made recommendations to the company issuing securities or the investment bank underwriting them concerning the corporate structure, assets or activities of the issuing company. These guidelines will also result in more statistics on upgrades and downgrades for each asset type, and how much verification they performed rating securities. None of this would have really prevented the subprime meltdown, but it might have led to less excess. It's hard to argue with progress; I just wonder if it will be enough.

For more:
- here's the AP article

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