• Bond rating agencies are companies that assess the creditworthiness of both debt securities and their issuers.

  • In the United States, the three major bond rating agencies are Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings, Moody’s and Fitch Ratings.
  • Bond rating agencies provide useful information to the markets and help investors save on research.
  • In the early 21st century, bond rating agencies were heavily criticized for misrating, especially mortgage-backed securities.