Rebuilding Confidence: It's "Come to Jesus" Time For the Rating Agencies

Here is a provocative piece from the Wall Street Journal.

Let's Write the Rating Agencies Out of Our Law

By Robert Rosenkranz

JANUARY 2, 2009

The rating agencies have been widely criticized for their role in the financial crisis. It is said that they wrongly assessed the risks on trillions of dollars worth of bonds backed by residential mortgages. And indeed they did. But this is hardly surprising.

Rating agencies employ quite ordinary mortals to analyze the credit risk of bonds, just as firms like Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch employ quite ordinary mortals to analyze the outlook for stocks. No one is shocked when equity analysts' recommendations don't pan out. Why should we expect any more of the rating agencies?

We should not, but the regulators have, and that is the problem. Regulators of banks, insurance companies and broker dealers have all incorporated the work of the ratings agencies into their regulations in myriad ways. Most importantly, bond ratings determine -- as a matter of law -- how much capital regulated institutions need in order to own the bonds.

For every dollar of equity that insurance companies are required to hold for bonds rated AAA, $3 is needed for bonds rated BBB, and $11 is needed for bonds rated just below investment grade (BB). For banks, the sensitivity of capital requirements to ratings is generally even more extreme.

The Bank for International Settlements also uses ratings to drive capital requirements, so the rating agencies have the same role in global capital markets that they have in the U.S.

For money market funds, ratings are equally critical: They are typically barred altogether from investments rated lower than AAA. In short, the ratings agencies are like a Consumer Reports for financial instruments -- but with the force of law behind their ratings. It is as if you were forbidden by law from buying an iron or a toaster unless it is rated "Excellent."

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