NU Online News Service, Aug. 24, 2:46 p.m.EDT

Douglas Peterson will replace Deven Sharma as president ofStandard & Poor's, effective Sept. 12, 2011, the rating agencyhas announced.

Peterson is currently chief operating officer of CitibankN.A.

The change comes weeks after S&P downgraded the U.S. long-term sovereign debt, drawing criticismfrom the Obama administration, super-investor Warren Buffett andlegislators, including Senate Banking, Housing and Urban AffairsCommittee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-SD), who said he was “deeplydisappointed in S&P's decision to enter into the game ofpolitical punditry.”

In the insurance industry, Insurance Information InstitutePresident Robert Hartwig earlier this month questioned why France would be rated abovethe U.S. when it does not even have its own currency. He said atthe time that the reality is that no other market is “as large andliquid as the U.S. Treasury market is and will remain,” and addedthat “it's been a tough ride for S&P” after the downgrade wasannounced.

But while media speculation points to the fallout from thedowngrade as a possible reason for Sharma stepping down, a personfamiliar with the matter insists the change in leadership “hasnothing to do with the downgrade.”

Pointing to the timeframe, the source notes that appointmentslike this are not made in a day, and says S&P has gone througha process that began at the start of 2011 and was well underway bythe time the rating action was taken.

Instead, the source says that, as is pointed out in S&P'sstatement, Sharma began looking for other opportunities whenS&P announced late last year that it would split into twoseparate organizations: S&P the credit ratings service andMcGraw-Hill Financial.

Under the new structure, Sharma would see much of his positionmoved out of his area of responsibility.

The source, as well as S&P's statement, says Sharma helpedwith the split and then began seeking other opportunities.

In S&P's statement, Harold McGraw III, chairman, presidentand CEO of the McGraw-Hill Cos., says, “As we welcome Doug, Iparticularly want to thank Deven for his dedicated leadership ofS&P.”

Sharma says, “It has been a privilege to serve as the presidentof S&P and I am proud of what we as an organization haveachieved over the past four years.”

Sharma joined S&P in 2006 as executive vice president,investment services and global sales. He was named president in2007.

Peterson was CEO of Citigroup Japan from 2004 to 2010. He waspreviously a chief auditor for Citigroup from 2001 to 2004.