rating agencies
Bond score providers
Rating agencies are firms that assess the creditworthiness of borrowers—governments, corporations, or financial instruments like bonds.
The major agencies (Moody's, Standard & Poor's, Fitch) assign letter grades indicating default risk: AAA bonds are considered safe investments.
Their judgments significantly influence borrowing costs and investor confidence, though their role in the 2008 financial crisis drew criticism for conflicts of interest.
- AAATop credit rating
- credit downgradeLowered assessment of creditworthiness
- creditworthinessAbility to repay debts
- investment gradeCreditworthy debt classification
- subprimeUnder top credit tier
Big Three · fiduciary duty · conflict of interest · investor confidence · financial contagion · too big to fail · credit risk · risk assessment · recovery rates · stress testing · legal liability · market volatility · municipal bonds · sovereign nations · interest rates · assessment · spreads · sovereign
- bondsbond, corporate bond, corporate bonds, government bond, municipal bond
- investingstocks, stock, bonds, investing, investor
- financial institutionsbanks, central bank, commercial banks, investment bank, investment banks
- ESG ReportingESG, corporate sustainability, environmental data, triple bottom line
rating agencieslenders
Those who provide loans
bondholders · creditors · investors · banks · institutional investors
rating agenciesself-certification
Declaring one's own compliance