Standard and Poor's

Standard & Poor's is a leading provider of financial market intelligence. Standard & Poor's (S&P) is a credit and ratings firm that specializes in ratings, indices, equity research, risk solutions, investment advisory service and data services. Its branches are located throughout the world. Product offerings include: 1) Ratings: S&P analyzes issuers and debt obligations of corporations, states and municipalities, financial institutions, insurance companies and sovereign governments. The company also provides insight into the credit risk of structured finance deals, providing an independent view of credit risk associated with a growing array of debt-securitized instruments. 2) Indices: With over $4.5 trillion benchmarked to Standard & Poor's family of indices, including the S&P 500, the S&P Global 1200, the S&P Europe 350, and the S&P Global Equity Indices, Standard & Poor's is the world's largest index provider. Standard & Poor's Indices provide a full spectrum of services assisting investors and asset managers to measure market performance. 3) Equity Research: Standard & Poor's Equity Research provides a single authoritative source of unbiased equity analysis and opinion on stocks around the world. 4) Risk Solutions: Standard & Poor's Risk Solutions offers clients a full range of credit risk management tools and services to assess and model risk, analyze data and train staff. The company provides clients with a flexible mix of credit risk systems, data and credit benchmarking services. 5) Investment Advisory Service: Standard & Poor's Investment Advisory Services provide investment firms across the globe with research and advice on asset allocation and portfolio strategies based on Standard & Poor's understanding of the global capital markets. 6) Data Services: Standard & Poor's Data Services provides data and information that helps meet the market's continuous need for public and private company fundamental data, pricing and evaluations, credit rating information and tools to identify relationships among securities, entities and people.