fitch

At the end of a five-hour excoriation of CEOs at credit-rating agencies, Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) said to the heads of Moody’s, Standard’s & Poor’s and Fitch: “Remember, we’re speaking from an institution, Congress, with lower ratings than yours.”
Congress doesn’t know what its next step will be in regulating Wall Street after the financial meltdown. [...]

“Is this simply a case that they got the assumptions wrong?” Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) asked a panel of experts on credit-rating agencies at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing. “Or is there more to the story they’re not sharing with us?”
The panel, and most lawmakers on the committee, seem to agree that [...]

Confused about the financial crisis? The rise of mortgage-backed securities and credit default swaps? So, it appears, were the credit ratings agencies — the companies that rated these financial instruments.
Since the federal government didn’t have authority to regulate the secondary mortgage market, it was up to the big CRA’s, like Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, [...]