Credit rating agencies (“CRAs”) have been very much in the eye of the storm of the sub-prime crisis and ongoing turmoil in the financial markets, in which they have been heavily implicated. This is because CRAs and the ratings they assign play a crucial role in the international financial system. Credit ratings have become increasingly important to investors in assessing the risk profile of the relevant investments and have been extremely important in the development of the structured credit market. In addition, the introduction of the Basel II framework has meant that credit ratings have become an integral part of the methodology of determining many financial institutions’ net capital reserve requirements.

Please see full bulletin for more information.