Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they still have to rate ‘em

The ratings agencies have had a bad crisis. Many have blamed them – and by “them” I mean mainly the big three of Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch – directly for the subprime crisis that lit the fuse on the global credit crunch.

The US authorities are in the process of a thorough reform of the raters to pre-empt the possibility that such a fiasco could recur.

Gulf corporations have had a love-hate relationship with the raters for some time now. Before the crisis hit the region last year, corporate treasurers were falling over themselves to get that elusive “AAA” star prize that meant they could get the best possible terms in international capital markets.