Fact Sheet: “Continuing its push to establish new rules of the road and make the financial system more fair across the board, the Administration today delivered proposed legislation to Capitol Hill to increase transparency, tighten oversight, and reduce reliance on credit rating agencies. The legislation would also work to reduce conflicts of interest at credit rating agencies while strengthening the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) authority over and supervision of rating agencies. In recent years, investors were overly reliant on credit rating agencies that often failed to accurately describe the risk of rated products. This lack of transparency prevented investors from understanding the full nature of the risks they were taking. The Administration’s legislation would tighten oversight of credit rating agencies, protect investors from inappropriate rating agency practices, and bring increased transparency to the credit rating process.”