It is also important for the credit rating agencies to clarify that a given rating applied to a structured credit product may have a different meaning than the same rating applied to a corporate bond or a municipal security. Indeed, some have suggested that the agencies use different rating nomenclatures for different types of products.
Transparency about methods should also help to reduce concerns about conflicts  4  BIS Review 43/2008  of interest that might arise from the fact that issuers of securities pay the rating agencies for their work in rating those securities.