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Debt Raters Avoid Overhaul After Crisis
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After a severe financial crisis that could have snowballed into a Depression type situation and the credit rating agencies playing their critic-for-hire role in causing the crisis, there has been very little done to reform or correct the basic way in which credit ratings are made. Other than small patches to the system that failed the country badly by 2008, it has been left alone by Congress, the Obama administration, and regulatory agencies. The Attorney General of Ohio, Richard Cordray, says the "rating agencies total disregard for the life's work of ordinary Ohioans caused the collapse of our housing and credit markets and is at he heart of what's wrong with Wall Street today." Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut's Attorney General says he plans to join the suit against the credit rating agencies, Fitch, Standard and Poors and Moody's. Cordrays suit was filed Nov. 20, on behalf of Ohio's pension funds. It seeks billions of dollars in damages from these ratings agencies and accuses the agencies of negligence and fraud. About the failure of Congress to make even the basic change to the system of ratings, Joseph Grundfest, a professor of securities law at Stanford says ; "What you see in these bills are Botox shots, for a little while everyone is going to be frozen into a grin, and then the shots are going to wear off.'' A deputy dean at Yale Law School, Jonathan Macey, was a member of a bipartisan task force on credit ratings reform and met with lawmakers in Congress on this issue. He says its mortifying to see that this problem which is different from other complicated issues like water shortages around the world has been left unsolved, as it could be easily solved if there was even a basic degree of political will to do so. Congress looked at the option of creating an independent fee financed credit rating agency along the lines of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, established after the Enron, but did nothing with this idea. Rep. Kanjorski and Senator Reed have led the efforts to look at the credit ratings agencies in Congress and have basically decided this to leave the system very much the same as before the crisis, with the conflict of interest problem and incentives to improve profitability at the expense of the integrity of the ratings process still intact. Bills in Congress give more oversight powers to the S.E.C. and require companies to strengthen their compliance teams. In the period leading to the 2008 crisis the internal compliance teams did not get top management support at the credit rating agencies and there is skepticism about the effectiveness of compliance teams. S.E.C. regulatory efforts face push-back from the credit ratings agencies and the effectiveness of S.E.C. regulatory supervision is uncertain given the critical role that is given to credit ratings in bond and securties issuance.
Failure to reform the credit ratings system in the aftermath of the massive 2008 crisis.
12/08/2009
Grouped Articles
Rating Firms Steer Clear of an Overhaul
Wall Street Journal 05/12/2013
Five Years On, Confidence Still Lacking in Conflicted Ratings System
Wall Street Journal 09/11/2013
S&P to Pay $1.5 Billion to Resolve Crisis-Era Litigation
Wall Street Journal 02/04/2015
S.&P. Settlement Leaves Future Unclear for Ratings
New York Times 02/03/2015
Debt Raters Avoid Overhaul After Crisis
New York Times 12/08/2009
A Crisis Is a Terrible Thing to Waste
BusinessWeek 12/17/2009
The S.E.C. and the Credit Ratings Agencies in the U.S. - 2010-2014
12/08/2009
The failure of the Securities and Exchange Commission to keep the intent of the Dodd-Frank law, and hold credit ratings agencies accountable for ratings they issue. This opens the door to the kinds of problems that caused the financial crisis of 2008.
Grouped Articles
Rating Firms Steer Clear of an Overhaul
Wall Street Journal 05/12/2013
Obama Presses Regulators to Finish Financial Rules
Wall Street Journal 08/20/2013
S&P's Account of An Irate Treasury Secretary
New York Times 01/21/2014
The Stone Unturned: Credit Ratings
New York Times 03/22/2014
S. & P. E-Mails on Mortgage Crisis Show Alarm and Gallows Humor
New York Times 02/05/2013
Regulators Struggle With Conflicts in Credit Ratings and Audits
New York Times 08/21/2014
2008 subprime mortgage securities financial crisis
08/05/2007
Financial crisis from the widespread distribution of securities created from pools of subprime mortgages in the portfolios of finacil institutions around the globe. How credit rating agencies helped create the crisis by giving A ratings to these securities which were then widely distributed as credit worthy.
Grouped Articles
BusinessWeek 04/01/2010
A Toxic Subprime Mortgage Bond's Legacy Lives On
Wall Street Journal 09/13/2013
Recipes for Ruin, in the Gulf or on Wall Street
New York Times 06/11/2010
S. & P. E-Mails on Mortgage Crisis Show Alarm and Gallows Humor
New York Times 02/05/2013
S&P to Pay $1.5 Billion to Resolve Crisis-Era Litigation
Wall Street Journal 02/04/2015
Wall Street Journal 02/27/2008
Moody's
12/07/2008
Grouped Articles
Debt Watchdogs: Tamed or Caught Napping?
New York Times 12/07/2008
Moody's Tops Profit Forecasts, Shares Rally
Wall Street Journal 04/28/2011
Debt Raters Avoid Overhaul After Crisis
New York Times 12/08/2009
Raters Fail to See Defaults Coming
Wall Street Journal 08/12/2011
Wall Street Journal 06/22/2012
Moody's Defends Bank Rating Cuts
Wall Street Journal 06/23/2012
Credit Ratings becoming optional.
10/30/2009
Grouped Articles
What Crisis? Big Ratings Firms Stronger Than Ever
Wall Street Journal 03/10/2016
Credit Ratings Now Optional, Firms Find
Wall Street Journal 10/30/2009
Panel Gives Wins to Savers, Raters
Wall Street Journal 06/16/2010
Ratings Agencies Keep Their Influence
New York Times 02/01/2011
Debt Raters Avoid Overhaul After Crisis
New York Times 12/08/2009
Wall Street Journal 07/23/2011
U.S. credit ratings agencies and legal settlements
12/08/2009
Grouped Articles
Rating Firms Steer Clear of an Overhaul
Wall Street Journal 05/12/2013
S&P's Account of An Irate Treasury Secretary
New York Times 01/21/2014
The Stone Unturned: Credit Ratings
New York Times 03/22/2014
S. & P. E-Mails on Mortgage Crisis Show Alarm and Gallows Humor
New York Times 02/05/2013
Regulators Struggle With Conflicts in Credit Ratings and Audits
New York Times 08/21/2014
S&P to Pay $1.5 Billion to Resolve Crisis-Era Litigation
Wall Street Journal 02/04/2015
The state attorneys general in the U.S. and the subprime lending and foreclosure crises and mortgage settlements.
12/08/2009
Federal regulators and the Bush and Obama administrations failed miserably to help homeowners achieve loan modifications. This with the false belief that putting homeowners out of their homes would actually speed up a recovery, considering the huge scale of foreclosures in the USA , the high unemployment and other problems hitting the economy. Feldstein's consistent arguments for homeowner relief throughout 2008 and 2009- considering the large number of homeowners under water- as the mortgage crisis unfolded, were ignored by the Bush and Obama administrations. See the comparisons to Japan's lost decade, as the lack of recovery in housing adds to problems with job losses. The lawsuits, legal action and mortgage settlements facing banks as they make their way through the mortgage mess.
Grouped Articles
A Toxic Subprime Mortgage Bond's Legacy Lives On
Wall Street Journal 09/13/2013
Wall Street Journal 12/31/2013
Fannieâs and Freddieâs Foreclosure Oversight Questioned
New York Times 10/19/2010
Banks Keep their Mortgage Litigation Reserves a Secret
New York Times 01/16/2014
The Case Against the Bernanke-Obama Financial Rescue
New York Times 05/16/2014
BP’s Cuts May Wound Portfolio Recovery
Wall Street Journal 02/04/2015
Credit Ratings firms and the U.S. and Eurozone financial crisis of 2010-2012
12/08/2009
Criticism of credit ratings firms. European commissioner Barnier calls for banning credit raings on countries receiving financial aid after Moody's strongly downgraded Protugal's debt ratingin July 2011. The problems of credit ratings being very pro-cyclical and the need to reduce the role of ratings in the market and regulatory framework in Europe.
Grouped Articles
ECB Chief Seeks Tighter Fiscal Union
Wall Street Journal 06/22/2010
What Crisis? Big Ratings Firms Stronger Than Ever
Wall Street Journal 03/10/2016
Ratings Gag Is No Joking Matter
Wall Street Journal 07/12/2011
Debt Raters Avoid Overhaul After Crisis
New York Times 12/08/2009
Wall Street Journal 07/23/2011
S&P downgrades U.S. credit rating for first time - The Washington Post
Washington Post 08/06/2011
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