McGraw Hill Financial said yesterday that its Standard & Poor’s unit was in “active discussions” with federal and state regulators on a possible settlement over ratings on six commercial mortgage-backed securities issued in 2011, the New York Times DealBook blog reported today. The company added that it took a $60 million charge in the third quarter for the legal costs. “There can be no assurance that this amount will be sufficient to resolve these matters or that definitive settlement agreements will be reached,” McGraw Hill said in a statement. In July, McGraw Hill disclosed that the Securities and Exchange Commission had sent a Wells notice concerning S&P’s ratings of the securities, alerting the company that the agency was considering a possible enforcement action. The attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts have also been investigating S&P over the commercial mortgage-backed securities.
