The critique on the role of rating agencies has become a recurring theme in all analysis of the current crisis. In addition to potential conflicts of interest embedded in their business models, rating agencies have faced questions on their methodology, in particular in the area of structured finance, and the lack of transparency in their activities.
The ex-post assessment of the performance of their ratings in the last two  1  Counterparty Risk Management Group: “Improving Counterparty Risk Management Practices”, June 1999. BIS Review 73/2010  1  years has raised serious concerns.