France loses AAA credit rating

[oracleslave]

A compliment is only worth from whence it originates.

[darmstadt]

Didn't those ****wit ratings agencies downgrade France a few weeks back but only for an hour or so due to a glitch with their figures? Shows how much you can trust them. I believe that France might be suing them...

[suityou01]

A compliment is only worth from whence it originates.

I'll take that as a compliment.

[sasguru]

The time is nigh ....

[DodgyAgent]

Didn't those ****wit ratings agencies downgrade France a few weeks back but only for an hour or so due to a glitch with their figures? Shows how much you can trust them. I believe that France might be suing them...

Another idiot in denial, choosing to shoot the messenger.

[DimPrawn]

Hurry up and die Euro, and take all the banks down with you.

Yours,

Gold Finger.

[Doggy Styles]

Hurry up and die Euro, and take all the banks down with you.

Yours,

Gold Finger.

In the old days an amateur cricketer with that name would be Mr G. Finger on the scorecard.

If he were professional, he'd be Finger, G.

[darmstadt]

Another idiot in denial, choosing to shoot the messenger.

Sorry, you mean these guys:

While often accused of being too close to company management of their existing clients, CRAs have also been accused of engaging in heavy-handed "blackmail" tactics in order to solicit business from new clients, and lowering ratings for those firms . For instance, Moody's published an "unsolicited" rating of Hannover Re, with a subsequent letter to the insurance firm indicating that "it looked forward to the day Hannover would be willing to pay". When Hannover management refused, Moody's continued to give Hannover Re ratings, which were downgraded over successive years, all while making payment requests that the insurer rebuffed. In 2004, Moody's cut Hannover's debt to junk status, and even though the insurer's other rating agencies gave it strong marks, shareholders were shocked by the downgrade and Hannover lost $175 million USD in market capitalization.

Credit Rating Agencies have made errors of judgment in rating structured products, particularly in assigning AAA ratings to structured debt, which in a large number of cases has subsequently been downgraded or defaulted. The actual method by which Moody's rates CDOs has also come under scrutiny. If default models are biased to include arbitrary default data and "Ratings Factors are biased low compared to the true level of expected defaults, the Moody’s [method] will not generate an appropriate level of average defaults in its default distribution process. As a result, the perceived default probability of rated tranches from a high yield CDO will be incorrectly biased downward, providing a false sense of confidence to rating agencies and investors."

It has also been suggested that the credit agencies are conflicted in assigning sovereign credit ratings since they have a political incentive to show they do not need stricter regulation by being overly critical in their assessment of governments they regulate.

Moody’s, the credit rating agency, said it was beginning disciplinary proceedings against some of its staff as it admitted it had incorrectly rated about $1bn of complex debt securities due to a computer error

Do you still think that Linda Lusardi is still 21?

[DodgyAgent]

Sorry, you mean these guys:

Do you still think that Linda Lusardi is still 21?

Well done! you have found a couple of stories to trash one credit agency. Well done indeed! The question I ask is if they are so corruptible then why don't the French bribe them ?

[BlasterBates]

Well done! you have found a couple of stories to trash one credit agency. Well done indeed! The question I ask is if they are so corruptible then why don't the French bribe them ?

I was quite amused the other day, when you and a few others were railing against the treaty to discover you didn´t actually know what was in it.