A number of entities are not very happy these days with the big three credit rating agencies. And that displeasure is stretched pretty much across the board, world-wide. Those who are displeased with recent ratings movements have been mulling over using competition policy and antitrust laws as a potential counter-attack; after all, there are only three significant agencies, so isn’t that a concentration of market power? This issue takes a look both at whether the displeasure is indeed warranted and, if so, whether antitrust is an appropriate arena for the battle.
And continuing our policy of looking at recent case rulings, we have two articles that address recent EU and U.S. decisions in the fields of parential liability and class certification. Enjoy!
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Antitrust and the Rating Agencies
The Credit Rating Agencies: How Did We Get Here? Where Should We Go?
With only three major rating agencies, is there a role for competition policy? Lawrence J. White (Stern at NYU)
Manipulation of Product Ratings: Credit-Rating Agencies, Google, and Antitrust
A competition approach to the product-rating problem, at least if the rating is provided by a single firm, should focus on market power. Mark. R. Patterson (Fordham Law School)
The Performance of Corporate Credit Ratings
Are investors too quick to dismiss the utility of corporate credit ratings? Albert D. Metz (Moody’s Investor Service)
Credit Rating Agencies and Competition Law
The credit ratings oligopoly has the stigmata of antitrust concerns. Nicolas Petit & Norman Neyrinck (University of Liege School of Law (ULg)
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Of Special Interest
Joint Venture Subsidiary What’s the Difference for Cartel Liability and Fines?
Having been so successful with wholly-owned subsidiaries, the Commission has recently decided to try its luck with joint ventures. Laura Atlee (Steptoe & Johnson)
Class Certification in Innovation Rich Spaces – Do 23(b)(3) Classes Need to Get More Innovative?
What must a plaintiff show to establish commonality of impact across the entire class, regardless of when an alleged class member became part of the class? David Reichenberg (Wilson Sonsini)
