Control and Responsibility of Credit Rating Agencies in the United States

Abstract:     
The article was a report prepared on credit rating agencies as the US National Report for XVIIth Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law. Credit rating agencies are considered one of the outside "gatekeepers" who act as reputational intermediaries by evaluating issuers in order to protect outside investors. Their failure to reflect the financial condition of troubled issuers like Enron and Worldcom raised issues about their roles and regulation of these agencies in the United States. The article discusses those issues. The paper was published prior to the Credit Rating Agency Reform Act of 2006.

Keywords: Credit Rating Agency, gatekeepers, NRSRO, Securities and Exchange Commission

Accepted Paper Series