Moody’s structured finance boss gets boot

Amid an internal investigation to determine the cause of a modeling error that affected ratings of around $1 billion in credit products, the head of Moody’s Investors Service’s global structured finance business, Noel Kirnon, has been fired.

The unit of New York-based Moody’s Corp. announced yesterday that Mr. Kirnon’s position as head of structured finance will be filled by chief credit officer Andrew Kimball until a permanent replacement is found.

Mr. Kimball’s duties will be assumed by Richard Cantor, managing director of Moody’s credit policy research group.

An internal investigation is currently being conducted by New York-based law firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, focusing on an error in the rating firm’s models that resulted in higher ratings for 11 complex credit products.

Moody’s is considering terminating certain employees who played a role in the error, the company said in the statement.

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