Rating agencies haven't learned a thing

The French stock exchange supervisory authority AMF has accused rating agencies of worsening the current crisis by not modifying their practices. The business paper Les Echos agrees: "What has happened since then? In truth, not much. The report published on Friday by the AMF shows that despite their failures in the Enron affair [bankruptcy of the US energy company], the subprime crisis [payment defaults in the US mortgage market] or the collapse of Lehman Brothers, rating agencies are still coming in for as much criticism as ever. The AMF is repeating a complaint often levelled at these private financial arbiters, namely that just like the markets they follow the herd. The French supervisory authority maintains that the procyclical attitude of the rating agencies has poured oil on the fire of Europe's national debt crises."

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