Standard & Poor's will be suspended for a year from ratingsecurities in the biggest piece of the commercial-mortgage bondmarket in a $60 million settlement with the U.S. Securities andExchange Commission (SEC), according to a person with knowledge ofthe matter.

The deal, which the person said may be announced as soon astomorrow, will be the agency's toughest action against a majorcredit rater. The SEC, which has been examining whether thecredit rater bent criteria to win business in 2011, will ban thecompany from grading securities backed by multiple commercialloans, the person said.

In addition to the SEC fine, the unit of McGraw Hill FinancialInc. is also facing a penalty to settle probes by Attorneys Generalin New York and Massachusetts, said the person and a second withknowledge of the talks. They both asked not to be identifiedbecause the discussions are private.

Catherine Mathis, a spokeswoman for McGraw Hill, declined tocomment, as did Judy Burns of the SEC.

The SEC sent S&P a Wells notice in July, saying thatinvestigators were pursuing an enforcement action tied to sixcommercial mortgage-backed securities, or CMBS, ratings from 2011,according to a regulatory filing. The alleged violations relate tothe CMBS rankings and “public disclosure made by S&P regardingthose ratings thereafter,” McGraw Hill said.

–With assistance from Keri Geiger in New York.

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