S&P to unveil ratings overhaul -papers

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, a unit of the McGraw-Hill Companies Inc is set to announce changes to boost the integrity of its research, such as rotating analysts' coverage, newspapers said on Thursday.

The Financial Times said S&P's plan had 27 "action points" including efforts to examine the accuracy of ratings and to look at elements such as security valuations and liquidity, traditionally not part of ratings analysis. It said the plan would be unveiled on Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal said that S&P would rotate lead rating analysts after five years of covering the same company, government bond issuer or structured finance arranger.

S&P officials in New York and London were not immediately available for comment.

Meanwhile, the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), the world's top market regulators group, said on Wednesday it planned to change the code of conduct for agencies to ban them from helping to design structured products that they also rate.