In an effort to eliminate the conflicts of interest that are believed to have contributed to the current crisis in the financial markets, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved what it called a ?comprehensive? reform of the credit ratings business at a June 11, 2008, meeting.

At a June 25 meeting, the Commissioners plan to consider another proposal related to the reform effort.

Regulators said the reforms should increase market participants' knowledge and understanding of the business practices of the ratings agencies.

The proposed rules follow from the authority Congress gave the SEC through a 2006 law to supervise the ratings agencies.

If the rules become final, they would put a stop to many practices that had been widespread during the housing bubble that began in the early part of this decade and came to an end in 2007.

The practices banned by the proposal include issuing a rating on a structured product when information on the underlying assets is not available to the public and rating a product that the agency helped the issuer and underwriter structure.

Ratings agencies would also be required to differentiate their ratings for asset backed securities from those they use for other fixed income products like corporate and municipal bonds.