University of Maine School of Law University of Maine School of Law Digital Commons Faculty Publications Faculty Scholarship 2009 Credit Rating Agencies, Structured Securities, and the Way Out of the Abyss Lois R. Lupica
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.mainelaw.maine.edu/faculty- publications Part of the Banking and Finance Law Commons Suggested Bluebook Citation Lois R. Lupica, Credit Rating Agencies, Structured Securities, and the Way Out of the Abyss, 28 Rev. Banking & Fin'l L. 639 (2009). Available at: http://digitalcommons.mainelaw.maine.edu/faculty-publications/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at University of Maine School of Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of University of Maine School of Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. 2009 CREDIT RATING AGENCIES & STRUCTURED SECURITIES 639 CREDIT RATING AGENCIES, STRUCTURED SECURITIES, AND THEWAY OUT OF THE ABYSS 1 LOIS R. LUPICA Bear in mind, however, that a rating is, in the end, an opznzon. The rating assignment is as much an art as it is a science. 2 L Credit Rating Agencies and Credit Ratings Since the early twentieth century, credit rating agencies ("CRAs") have provided opinions about the creditworthiness of securities issuers and the quality of their issuances.3 An issuer's creditworthiness is a function of the risk that its loan instrument will 1 Maine Law Foundation Professor of Law, University of Maine School of Law. B.S. Cornell University, 1981; J.D.