Who rates the raters?

rating agencies

For nearly a century rating agencies have been providing a valuable service to investors, helping them avoid uncreditworthy debt issuers. But it has only been in the past 30 years that a select few agencies have been granted ‘approved status’ by the industry regulator. Since then, any new entrants into the credit rating business have found it more or less impossible to break into this elite group and gain recognition by regulator and industry alike.

It seems that it doesn’t matter if