Exclusion zone; Rating agencies.(Do rating agencies distort financial markets?)(SEC investigatino)
Economist (US), The, February, 2003
Regulators promise a belated review of the ratings oligopoly
THE domination of any industry by three firms ought to set regulators thinking. Does their power distort markets? Is lack of competition damaging? So it is in the world of credit ratings, where two big agencies, Moody's and Standard & Poor's (S&P), and one smaller one, Fitch, hold sway. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was asked by Congress last year to review their role.
At the end of March the SEC will publish a paper that attempts to deal with concerns not only about competition in the rating business, but also about possible conflicts of interest, and the need for greater transparency and perhaps tighter regulation. Don't hold your breath. The world is awaiting the SEC's...
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