2008 October Media Highlights

A sampling of news coverage with links as available

30 October 2008
CFO.com
For One Broken Deal, Blame the Accounting
Excerpt: Outside the banking sector, fair-value accounting has staunch supporters in accountants and investors. Patrick Finnegan, director of the CFA Institute, told the SEC that "fair-value reporting provides the single best measurement for economic reality at any given reporting date."

30 October 2008
FEI Blog
FASB Votes on Pension Disclosures, Bus Comb: SEC Roundtable
Excerpt: The view of the investor community represented by the CFA Institute and others, was that the fair value accounting rules provide important transparency.

30 October 2008
Forbes
Measure Twice, Invest Once
Excerpt: For the most part, published returns are audited and verified. Mutual funds are marked to market daily, so their valuation and performance are somewhat transparent. For the rest of the world, investors kind of have to take the asset manager's word for it. One comforting footnote along with posted performance numbers is that the asset manager's calculations were compliant with the CFA Institute's Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS). (Read more on this topic in "A Guide To Global Investment Performance Standards.") Although this does not provide any sort of guarantee or legal verification, it does let you know that the investment company representing the numbers has taken the time to apply the standards relating to valuation time-period minimums, the treatment of cash flows, compiling and segmenting returns by asset classes, and the handling of performance numbers calculated by third parties.

29 October 2008
bnet.com
“Mark to Market” Accounting: Amend It, Don’t Suspend It
Excerpt: “Breaking or tweaking the thermometer while the doctor is examining the patient isn’t going to save him but we need to set out to help improve fair value reporting,” said Patrick Finnegan of the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute.

29 October 2008
Markets Media
SEC Panel Debates Fair Value
Excerpt: On the other side of the question was Patrick Finnegan, director of financial reporting policy at the CFA Institute, who faulted financial executives at companies taking hits from fair value accounting for not taking liquidity risks into account in the first place. "I don't think [procyclicality] impairs the relevance of fair value reporting," he said. "It is a consequence." "Historical cost is insensitive to the signals the market is giving, which impairs decision making,” he told Markets Media. “Just think of all those shareholders who thought everything was fine just before it wasn't."

29 October 2008
Reuters
U.S. Investors, Banks Battle on Fair Value Accounting
Excerpt: Patrick Finnegan, a director at CFA Institute, disagreed and said allowing management intent to influence the value of an asset was an "insidious" idea. "We should let all changes in net assets occur in the balance sheet," he said.

29 October 2008
Financial Week
New Fair-Value Disclosure Requirements on Way from FASB
Excerpt: “Investors need to understand the assumptions, the inputs in these models,” agreed Patrick Finnegan, director of the financial reporting policy group at the CFA Institute. Both Mr. Finnegan and Ms. Ma support fair value. But Ms. Ma thinks increased disclosure requirements are necessary. “Now we know it’s coming from FASB,” she said of plans for additional disclosure requirements.

28 October 2008
Asian Investor
Investors Want Banks to Correct Past Mistakes
Excerpt: A CFA Institute poll shows that investors want banks to take some responsibility for their excessive risk taking and their focus on short-term goals. CFA Institute, a global association for investment professionals, has released the results of a global member poll on the attempts of various governments to stabilize financial markets.The survey results suggest that CFA Institute’s members are encouraged by the strong and varied government actions to shore up the industry and for financial firms to open their books, but they are also looking for financial institutions to focus on correcting the mistakes that led to the crisis in the first place.

28 October 2008
CFO.com
Fair-Value Fight Packs a Punch
Excerpt: The second panel includes Patrick Finnegan, a director at the CFA Institute, a staunch supporter of fair-value accounting, and Cindy Ma, a managing director at investment bank Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, who has said a suspension of FAS 157 could break investors' already-wavering confidence. Also expected to attend are Richard Ramsden, who leads an investment research group at Goldman Sachs; Russell Wieman, a Grant Thornton partner; and Chuck Maimbourg, a senior vice president at Key Bank and a former CFO of Zaxis International and Trion Technologies.

27 October 2008
Global Money Management
CFA Institute Introduces ESG Guide
Excerpt: The CFA Institute Centre for Financial Market Integrity has introduced a new guide aimed at helping long-term investors with responsible investing, entitled Environmental, Social, and Governance Factors at Listed Companies: A Manual for Investors in the EMEA region.

27 October 2008
Global Pensions
ESG Manual Launched
Excerpt: Charles Cronin, head of CFA Institute Centre, EMEA, said, “The manual provides a framework with which to analyze what the particular ESG risks are within a company and whether the company has the management and the structure in place to identify those risks and to minimize them.” Cronin said the manual could also help institutional investors to assess whether asset managers were aware of ESG issues and had incorporated them in their strategies.

26 October 2008
Financial Week
Opinion: Suspend the Politicking, Not the Accounting: Changing the Mark-to-Market Rules Won’t Restore Investor Confidence in the Banks
Excerpt: CFA Institute, the global association for the investment profession, believes that suspending fair value would deprive investors of critical information precisely when it's needed most, and that naysayers should stop the alarmism and instead focus on restoring confidence in the markets.

24 October 2008
Professional Adviser
Investors Back State Intervention in Banks, Finds CFA Institute Survey
Excerpt: Investors are supportive of governments worldwide investing in domestic banks, according to a survey of CFA Institute members. Jeff Diermeier, CFA president and CEO of the CFA Institute, said, “Our members are encouraged by the strong and varied government actions to shore up the industry and for financial firms to open their books and tell the truth about the current market value of some key assets. The recent G7 and global treasurer meetings are a step in the right direction.”

23 October 2008
Business Week
Billionaires Forced to Bail Out
Excerpt: "You would think one of the last things they would want to do is sell shares into [this] market," says Kurt Schacht, managing director of the CFA Institute Centre, which studies markets ethics and policy. "It shows you that CEOs are not immune from the pressures everyone else is feeling."

20 October 2008
CNBC
Managing Your Mini Economy
Excerpt: With the help of Stephen Horan, head of Private Wealth at CFA Institute, in tonight's show Carmen outlines a simple battle plan you can follow to maneuver through the current financial crisis and the tough times that may last well into next year.

20 October 2008
FT Adviser
CFA Survey Shows Investors in Favour of Government Plans
Excerpt: Investors are widely supportive of the move by worldwide governments to invest in their domestic banks to stave off a global collapse of the banking system, a CFA Institute survey revealed. The CFA Institute, the global association for investment professionals, said its members were “encouraged” by governments’ attempts to stabilize markets and liquidity, the findings of a poll of its members found.

20 October 2008
The National Law Journal
In-House Counsel Win Battle in War Over Accounting
Excerpt: Investment groups like the CFA Institute Centre for Financial Market Integrity of Charlottesville, Va., favor greater disclosures. In its comments to the accounting board about the proposed changes, the group said it generally supports the accounting board's “overall direction." "We feel that investors should be fully informed about all contingencies and risks when they arise," stated the group's comments.

17 October 2008
FEI Magazine
Financial Executives International's Financial Reporting Blog
Excerpt: In response to the September 30 Congressional letter, a joint statement was issued by three of the Four C’s on October 1, which said, “The Center for Audit Quality, Council of Institutional Investors and the CFA Institute – representing the nation’s public company auditors, institutional investors and chartered financial analysts − are united in opposing any suspension of 'mark-to-market' or 'fair value' accounting.”

17 October 2008
Reuters
Investors Battle Fair Value
Excerpt: The council, the CFA Institute and accounting group the Center for Audit Quality, are urgently trying to convince members of Congress not to suspend the fair value accounting rule as part of a $700 billion financial bailout package.

17 October 2008
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany)
Investors Are Supportive of Governments Worldwide Investing in Domestic Banks
Excerpt: In a poll of CFA Institute (an association comprising 97,000 members) from October 2008, 72 percent of those who responded do not support the suspension of fair value standards under the International Financial Reporting Standards.

17 October 2008
FAZ.net (Germany)
Financial Aids from Governments Split the Banking World
Excerpt: "It is no surprise that banks are not comfortable lending to one another − no one is sure what surprises there are on a firm's balance sheets," says Jeff Diermeier, CFA, president and CEO of CFA Institute. Therefore, the analysts refuse the designated easing of reporting rules. "The financial firms," demands Diermeier, "should open their books and tell the truth about the current market value of their key assets."

17 October 2008
Globe & Mail
It’s the Economy, Charlie Brown
Excerpt: "If we don't have a black swan, we certainly have a dark-grey one," [Mr. Bogle] said in an online Q&A session with the CFA Institute, a global organization for financial analysts.

17 October 2008
Wealth Bulletin (UK)
Fund Managers at Most Downbeat for a Decade
Excerpt: A survey of investors published today by the CFA Institute in London found support for the plans of governments around the world to invest in banks. Out of 4,200 respondents, three quarters approved of the UK bailout plan, and 83 percent said that a government guarantee on banks’ short-term debt should restore confidence, enabling institutions to trade with each other again.

17 October 2008
The Times (UK)
Investment Professionals Support Bailouts
Excerpt: However, despite the continuing volatility in the markets, the bailouts have the full support of investment professionals, according to a survey by the CFA Institute. Its poll of more than 5,000 members showed that 75 percent believed that governments around the world should follow Britain's lead and strengthen the capital base of domestic banks by investing in equity. What is more, 83 percent said that if governments were to guarantee all the short-term debts of solvent financial institutions, this would restore the confidence needed for them to begin trading with each other again.

16 October 2008
AV-Finance.com
Investors Support Country Participations at Banks
Excerpt: "Investors Are Supportive of Governments Worldwide Investing in Domestic Banks," says CFA Institute Poll − The CFA Institute, a global association for investment professionals, today released the results of a global member poll on governments' attempts to stabilize the markets and liquidity.

16 October 2008
NJ Star Ledger
Investors Stepping aside to Let Government Lead
Excerpt: In a survey by the CFA Institute, a global association of investment professionals, three out of four investors backed efforts by governments to shore up the capital base of domestic banks by directly investing in the equity of those institutions.

16 October 2008
WebCPA
Groups Defend Fair Value Accounting
Excerpt: The Center for Audit Quality, the CFA Institute, the Council of Institutional Investors and the Consumer Federation of America have written to the Securities and Exchange Commission opposing demands for the SEC to override the Financial Accounting Standards Board's rules on fair value accounting.

16 October 2008
BNA Daily Report for Executives
Four Groups Warn against Calls for SEC to Override FASB on Fair Value
Excerpt: The letter was signed by Cindy Fornelli, executive director of the Center for Audit Quality, an affiliate of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; Jeffrey Diermeier, president and chief executive officer of CFA Institute, a leading analysts group; Barbara Roper, director of investor protection at Consumer Federation of America; and Jeff Mahoney, general counsel of the Council of Institutional Investors.

16 October 2008
Financial News
CFA Survey Touts UK Bailout Plan As Global Solution
Excerpt: Three-quarters of investment professionals believe the UK Government's bank bailout plan should be the blueprint for other governments around the world, according to a new survey by the CFA Institute, the industry's trade body.

15 October 2008
CFO.com
Don’t Suspend Fair Value, Cox Urged
Excerpt: Today's letter seems to be a direct response to the ABA's letter to Cox. "We are writing to express grave concern regarding recent calls for the SEC to override guidance issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Commission’s staff that would effectively suspend fair value or mark-to-market accounting," according to today's letter, which was signed by Cindy Fornelli, executive director of the Center for Audit Quality; Jeffrey Diermeier, president and chief executive officer of the CFA Institute; Barbara Roper, director of investor protection of the Consumer Federation of America; and Jeff Mahoney, general counsel of the Council of Institutional Investors. "We believe such urgings are decidedly not in the public interest."

15 October 2008
Bloomberg
Consumer, Investor Groups Urge SEC to Reject Pleas to Ease Rule
Excerpt: “Easing the so-called fair-value rule would jeopardize already fragile investor confidence,” the Council of Institutional Investors and the Consumer Federation of America wrote to Cox today. Fair-value, which requires companies to assess investments each quarter and report declines in values, “helped expose'” weak credit and didn't cause the crisis, the groups said. The Center for Audit Quality and the CFA Institute also signed the letter.

15 October 2008
Financial News
Fund Managers at Most Downbeat for a Decade
Excerpt: A survey of investors published today by the CFA Institute in London found support for the plans of governments around the world to invest in banks. Out of 4,200 respondents, three quarters approved of the UK bailout plan, and 83 percent said that a government guarantee on banks' short-term debt should restore confidence, enabling institutions to trade with each other again.

14 October 2008
Pensions & Investment
CFA Institute Members Back Intervention in Banks
Excerpt: CFA Institute members globally support by a 3-to-1 margin worldwide government intervention to directly invest in the equity of banks, according to the results of a poll distributed to the 98,000 members of the association of investment professionals.

14 October 2008
The New York Times
The Problem Is the Assets, Not the Mark
Excerpt: The CFA Institute distributed a questionnaire to its members on Thursday, and so far has received more than 5,000 responses from people whose job it is to review financial statements and make investment recommendations. It should come as no surprise that they are more concerned about banks overvaluing assets than about the possibility that mark-to-market accounting is causing assets to be valued at unreasonably low levels. 

14 October 2008
24 Hours News Services (Vancouver)
Get More Out of Your Paycheque
Excerpt: Consider letting a mutual fund manager allocate the asset mix; only advisors with proper accreditation, i.e. a chartered financial analyst, should be constructing portfolios.

13 October 2008
Business Mirror (Philippines)
UP Diliman Wins 10th Finance Competition
Excerpt: Organizers said the questions used in the competition were based on the Chartered Financial Analyst Level 1 body of knowledge. The CFA title is a designation for investment professionals.

13 October 2008
Athens Banner-Herald
Business Whirl: Phillips, Chapman Enhance Credentials
Excerpt: Cody Chapman, portfolio analyst with the firm, recently passed level one of the chartered financial analyst examination, a three-part examination to earn the CFA designation. The exam was administered by the CFA Institute, a nonprofit association of investment professionals that sets ethical standards and provides educational opportunities. The CFA designation is a globally recognized standard for measuring the competence and integrity of investment professionals.

13 October 2008
Pensions & Investment
Groups Won’t Surrender on Support of Fair Value
Excerpt: The Council of Institutional Investors, the CFA Institute and the Center for Audit Quality oppose any suspension of “mark-to-market” or “fair-value” accounting, according to a joint statement issued Oct. 1.

12 October 2008
Financial Week
XBR: Using XBRL for SEC Filings Only the Start for Data-Tag Tech
Excerpt: "Quant funds could also use tagged earnings releases to compare companies,” said Glenn Doggett, a policy analyst at the CFA Institute. “Analysts and funds want to know about business intelligence that is not net-income focused,” he said, noting that the SEC has floated ideas on tagging data on oil and gas reserves.

11 October 2008
Rocky Mountain News
Toxic Times Complicate Measure of “Fair Value”
Excerpt: The slap at mark-to-market accounting came despite loud lobbying by several investor and accounting-industry groups, with the Center for Audit Quality and CFA Institute defending the rules.

9 October 2008
Zertifikatewoche (Germany)
The Arrogance of the Turbo Media
Excerpt: In this context Nitin Mehta, Managing Director EMEA of the CFA Institute is quoted, "News and information is the lifeblood for markets and investors. Given that the media is an important source of information, especially for retail investors, any exaggeration or misreporting could do significant damage in the current febrile and nervous environment."

9 October 2008
Financial Director (UK)
Fair Value Suspension Would Be Obfuscation
Excerpt: Writing to the Financial Times, the chair of the CFA society's Accountancy Advocacy Committee Jane Fuller said, “The message from the investment community is that obfuscation is not the way to restore their precious confidence.”

6 October 2008
Investopedia.com
The ABCs of Wealth Management
Excerpt: A Certified (or Chartered) Financial Analyst (CFA) is among the most difficult and prestigious certifications in the financial industry, designating investment professionals such as portfolio managers and stock analysts. The label is awarded by the CFA Institute, an international nonprofit association comprising more than 90,000 members with a mandate to maintain a high standard for the investment industry. CFAs are required to pass three levels of six-hour-long exams in the course of three years, covering areas such as accounting, economics, ethics, money management and security analysis.

5 October 2008
Investment News
Don’t Settle for the Index Hugger
Excerpt: In the 1980s, there was significant interest in custom benchmarks, and a few firms sprang up to provide what were then called "normal portfolios," which are custom collections of stocks with custom weights. The Charlottesville, Va.-based CFA Institute's Benchmark Committee Report recommended the use of custom benchmarks over indexes and peer groups.

5 October 2008
MiamiHerald.com
How to Pick an Advisor
Excerpt: Chartered financial analyst: These individuals are usually securities analysts, money managers and investment advisors who have completed a self-study program and passed three levels of exams administered by the CFA Institute.

3 October 2008
accountancymagazine.com
CFA Puts Foot Down in Fair Value Row − Most European Members Vote Against Suspension
Excerpt: President of the CFA Institute, Jeff Diermeier, and managing director of the EMEA and CFA Institute, Nitin Mehta, have acted upon the poll results by submitting a letter to Sarkozy highlighting the CFA’s stance on the matter. The letter states: "The CFA Institute believes that any weakening of accounting rules will not improve market stability and will further undermine investor confidence." Diermeier and Mehta also say that by suspending the rules on fair value, it will undermine globally accepted standards, increase investor risk and thus raise the cost of capital.

3 October 2008
Advisor.ca (Canada)
European CFAs Rally Against Accounting Changes
Excerpt: An overwhelming number 79 percent of CFA Institute members based in the European Union do not support the suspension of fair value standards under the International Financial Reporting Standards, according to an overnight poll. Following the poll results, Jeff Diermeier, president and CEO of the CFA Institute, and Nitin Mehta, managing director, EMEA, CFA Institute, submitted a letter to President Sarkozy, who is seeking more flexibility in accounting rules. The letter reiterates the stance of the majority of poll respondents that any weakening of accounting rules will not improve market stability and will further undermine investor confidence.

3 October 2008
Global Pensions
Fair Value Suspension Debated
Excerpt: The results of a poll of CFA Institute members showed 79 percent of those who responded did not support the suspension of fair value standards under International Financial Reporting Standards. Following the poll results Jeff Diermeier, President & CEO, CFA Institute, and Nitin Mehta, managing director, EMEA, CFA Institute, submitted a letter to French president Sarkozy, who is seeking more flexibility in accounting rules. The letter affirmed any weakening of accounting rules would not improve market stability and would further undermine investor confidence. 

3 October 2008
Dow Jones
IASB Watchful of SEC’s Fair Value Plans
Excerpt: In an overnight poll of members of the Chartered Financial Analysts Institute based in Europe, almost four out of five respondents said that they did not support the suspension of fair value standards. In a letter to Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France who has spoken in favour of more flexibility in accounting rules, CFA Institute president Jeff Diermeier said: "CFA Institute believes that fair value accounting, coupled with accompanying disclosure, aids transparency and allows investment professionals to assess the financial health of a company."

3 October 2008
The Deal Newsweekly
Big, Big, and Beyond
Excerpt: But accounting firms and investor groups opposed the SEC's decision to ease up and will likely fight any further statutory relaxation. "Suspending fair-value accounting during these challenging economic times would deprive investors of critical financial information when it is needed most," the Council of Institutional Investors, Center for Audit Quality and CFA Institute said in a joint statement.

3 October 2008
EIU Newswire
Investment Pros Like Bailout, Fair Value
Excerpt: In a survey of 3,130 investment professionals by the CFA Institute, 66 percent were in favor of bailing out the financial-services industry and considered it the best alternative to a serious economic crisis. The specific plan to create a $700 billion liquidity pool using taxpayer funds to buy the illiquid sub prime, mortgage, and other derivative securities from the troubled financial firms drew support from 60 percent of those who answered.

3 October 2008
FT.com
IASB Defends Clarification of Fair Value Rules
Excerpt: The U.S. based CFA Institute, which represents investment professionals, yesterday wrote to Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, who holds the rotating chairmanship of the European Union, urging him not to change the accounting rules. Earlier this week, Mr Sarkozy had suggested this could help ease the crisis − a line also taken by other politicians including a number of Republicans in the U.S. and David Cameron, leader of the UK's opposition Conservative party. But the CFA Institute said a poll of its European members showed four-fifths did not support a suspension of fair value rules. "This financial crisis is about the mis-pricing of risk and ill-considered risk management," said Jeffrey Diermeier, CFA president. "Masking financial performance through the suspension of fair-value accounting will not address these fundamental points and will continue to impact on investor confidence."

2 October 2008
Borsen-Zeitung (Germany)
U. S. Financial Regulators Soften Market Value Accounting
Excerpt (Translation): "They are saying that in some cases, using level three might be more appropriate than using level two", says CFA Institute, an association of financial analysts. The CFA Institute is concerned that the phrase "adequate exposure to the market" could be misused as a gateway for accounting assets as level three assets, despite prices resulting from privately made deals, such as the transaction by Merrill Lynch at the end of July.

2 October 2008
Pensions & Investments
Stick with Fair Value, Say CFA’s European Members
Excerpt: “CFA Institute believes that fair-value accounting, coupled with accompanying disclosure, aids transparency and allows investment professionals to assess the financial health of a company,” Jeff Diermeier, president and CEO of CFA Institute, and Nitin Mehta, managing director, wrote in a letter to Mr. Sarkozy. “It can also discourage company management from taking imprudent risks. This financial crisis is about the mispricing of risk and ill-considered risk management.”

2 October 2008
Chicago Tribune
Critics Say Accounting Rule Off Mark: Change Sought in How Assets Valued
Excerpt: With the SEC and the Financial Accounting Standards Board working to clarify the rules, a group composed of the Council of Institutional Investors, the Center for Quality Auditing, and the CFA Institute said there is no reason for Congress to pursue a suspension. "Investors have a right to know the current value of an investment, even if the investment is falling short of past or future expectations," the group said.

2 October 2008
WebCPA
Groups Oppose Suspending Mark-to-Market Accounting
Excerpt: The Center for Audit Quality has joined with the Council of Institutional Investors and the CFA Institute to come out in opposition of suspending mark-to-market or fair value accounting.

2 October 2008
Reuters
Investors Battle Fair Value Accounting Suspension
Excerpt: "Investors have a right to know the current value of an investment, even if the investment is falling short of past or future expectations," said the Council of Institutional Investors, whose members hold assets of about $3 trillion. The council, the CFA Institute, and accounting group the Center for Audit Quality, are urgently trying to convince members of Congress not to suspend the fair value accounting rule as part of a $700 billion financial bailout package.

2 October 2008
Financial Standard (Australia)
U.S. Senate Passes Bail-Out 74 to 25
Excerpt: Jeff Diermeier, CFA, president and chief executive officer of CFA Institute, said, "I believe Monday's vote was an unfortunate display of the political posturing that many of us find so frustrating and that the bailout package should be put to another vote at the earliest."

1 October 2008
International Accounting Bulletin
Firms Back Reclassification but Reject Mark-to-Market Changes
Excerpt: Suspension remains a threat in the U.S. where the new Emergency Economic Stabilization Act has given the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission the power to suspend mark-to-market accounting. A joint letter from the U.S. Center for Audit Quality, CFA Institute, Consumer Federation of America and Council of Institutional Investors has urged the SEC not to take this path.

1 October 2008
Investment News
Don’t Suspend Fair-Value Accounting, Groups Urge
Excerpt: “Suspending fair-value accounting during these challenging economic times would deprive investors of critical financial information when it is needed most,” the Council of Institutional Investors and the Center for Audit Quality, both based in Washington, and the CFA Institute of Charlottesville, Va., said in a joint statement released today.

1 October 2008
Citywire
CFA Voices Support for Mark-to-Market Accounting Rules
Excerpt: The Chartered Financial Analyst Institute does not believe the "mark-to-market" accounting practices are to blame for the collapse of the banking system.

1 October 2008
Associated Press
All Business: Fair-Value Accounting Rules a Must
Excerpt: "The accounting is a neutral tool to assess a financial condition of a company, and that's exactly what it is doing," said Patrick Finnegan, director of the financial reporting group at the CFA Institute, a trade group representing investment professionals.

1 October 2008
Wall Street Journal
U.S. Weighs Increase in Deposit Insurance
Excerpt: The SEC said on Tuesday that in some circumstances it might make more sense to judge assets more on their intrinsic values, instead of what the market will bear. For example, an asset might have no buyers right now, but it could still be valuable because it's from a highly respected company that is unlikely to default. This would allow "a more liberal application than what has previously been applied," said Patrick Finnegan, director of the financial reporting policy group of CFA Institute Centre, an association of professional investors.

1 October 2008
Financial Management (UK)
Rating or Lotto?  As the Credit Crisis Deepens, the Credit Rating Agencies Are Being Blamed for Misleading Investors. Neil Hodge Examines the Case for Regulation.
Excerpt: Other organizations carried out their own surveys and found similarly worrying results. Financial analysts training organization, CFA Institute, published a member opinion poll at the beginning of July. It found that 211 (11 percent) of the 1,956 respondents had witnessed a credit rating agency change its rating in response to pressure from an investor, issuer, or underwriter, and that over half of these (51 percent) believed that this was motivated by the prospect that issuers would take their business to a competing agency.