Big Three ratings agencies face competition

 PARIS: The Big Three credit rating agencies, under fire for failing to anticipate the global financial crisis, have spurred new players to offer alternatives but the trio's dominance of the sector seems secure for the moment, analysts said.

"It's a matter of at the same time introducing more competition while making investors less sensitive to the ratings," said Jerome Cazes, head of the French credit insurer Coface.

Coface and another French insurer, Euler Hermes, along with US entities Egan Jones, DBRS and Meredith Whitney Advisory Group, are all anxious to do battle with the Big Three -- Moody's Investors Service, Fitch Ratings and Standard and Poor's.

The Chinese agency , Dagon Global Credit Rating, has also attracted attention after it downgraded the United States for its massive debt overhang.

Moody’s sees huge global potential for Islamic banking industry

KARACHI: Islamic banking industry has an immense global potential to grow to $5 trillion from the current $950 billion as both individual depositors and companies have shown willingness to adopt Shariah compliance, an international rating agency said in its report on Tuesday.

“A combined use of securitisation and derivatives offers considerable scope for reducing the risk exposures of Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) and thus improving their overall creditworthiness,” said Moody’s Investors Service in its report.

Moody’s warns of ‘fiscal crisis’ in top-rated nations

Wednesday, December 09, 2009
LONDON: Ratings agency Moody’s warned on Tuesday of a “fiscal crisis” lasting “several years” in Britain, France, Germany and the United States, but saw no immediate threat to their top AAA credit assessments.

Moody’s said although the financial crisis was nearing an end, AAA-rated nations will struggle to find the money to reduce huge public debts. “The global macroeconomic and financial system crises may be close to an end, but the fiscal crisis in a number of AAA-rated countries will likely last for several years,” Moody’s Investors Service said in a key report.