Rating the ratings agencies

Sovereign credit ratings are kind of like Consumer Reports for nations - just as people read car magazines or washing machine reviews before buying, investors read ratings to determine how to invest their money. Sovereign credit ratings assess a country's debt and its ability and willingness to repay it. And whethercitizens of a country realise it or not, a downgrading of even a single point can have serious ripple effects. On the TEDGlobal 2013 stage, rating agency reformer Annette Heuser suggests that sovereign credit ratings, because of their impact on the wider public, should actually be treated as public goods. "We are allowing rating agencies to be intransparent about their work. We need to change this," Heuser says. "The sector needs a complete overhaul, not just a trimming around the edges" ... READ MORE

Released by TEDGlobal - 12 June 2013