It is again open season for rating agency bashing and the agencies are being blamed for at least three sins...more...

More Can Be Done to Improve Credit Rating Industry’s Independence, Quality and Transparency Says the CFA Institute Centre...more...

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services announced in February that it has revised the correlation and recovery assumptions it uses to rate certain new collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and to perform surveillance on CDO transactions backed by residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS)...more...

Healthy commercial real estate fundamentals and relatively low delinquency rates in 2007 supported North American commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), which turned in another year of strong credit performance despite deteriorating macroeconomic conditions, according to a recent report published by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services...more...

In a report published Jan. 31, 2008, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services announced that it has concluded the research and feedback solicitation process that was initiated by its Oct. 24, 2007, Request For Comment (RFC) and, as a result, revised its guidelines for residential mortgage loan servicers' reporting of monthly loan-level origination variables and data and performance information...more...

Stefan Bund, Managing Director at London-based Derivative Fitch, offers insight on Fitch's process for adjusting rating methodologies in light of gyrating credit markets and the sub prime debacle.more...