There are currently only three internationally recognized professional credit rating agencies, namely Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch International.

1. John Moody, the founder of Moody's Company, published his views on bond credit rating in his book "Railway Investment Analysis" published in 1909, making credit rating the first Entering the securities market, he pioneered the practice of using simple credit rating symbols to identify 90 types of bonds issued by 250 companies. It is this approach that distinguishes credit rating agencies from ordinary statistical agencies, so later generations generally believe that Credit ratings first began with Moody's railway bond credit ratings. In 1913, Moody's extended credit ratings to utility and industrial bonds, and created a method of using public information to conduct third-party independent credit ratings or unauthorized credit ratings. In the past, Moody's ratings and research mainly focused on corporate and government debt, agency financing securities and commercial paper. In recent years, it has begun to target securities issuers, insurance company debt, bank loans, derivatives, bank deposits and other bank bonds, and managed funds. Wait for rating. Currently, Moody's has 800 analytical experts and more than 1,700 assistant analysts around the world, with institutions in 17 countries. The total number of bonds rated and analyzed in 2003 exceeded US$30 trillion, and its stocks are listed and traded on the New York Stock Exchange ( Code MCO).

2. Standard & Poor's (S&P) was formed in 1941 through the merger of Poor's Publishing Company and Standard Statistics Company. The history of Poor Publishing Company can be traced back to 1860, when its founder, Henry V. Poor, published "Railroad History" and "American Canals" and took the lead in financial information services and bond ratings. In 1966, Standard & Poor's was acquired by McGraw Hill. The company mainly provides external independent analysis reports on stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other investment tools, and provides credit ratings for more than 220,000 securities and funds around the world. It currently has 1,200 analysts and 40 offices around the world. organizations employing more than 5,000 employees.

3. Fitch International (Fitch) was founded in 1913 by John K. Fitch. It was originally a publishing company. He began to use ratings from AAA to D in 1924. The system rates industrial securities. In recent years, Fitch has carried out multiple restructurings and mergers and acquisitions, and its scale has continued to expand. In 1997, the company acquired another rating agency IBCA, in 2000 it acquired DUFF & PHELPS, and then bought Thomson Bankwatch. Currently, 97% of the company's equity is controlled by the French company FIMALAC, with 45 branches and more than 1,400 employees around the world. Employees, more than 900 rating analysts, its business mainly includes national, local government, financial institutions, corporate and institutional financing ratings. To date, it has provided ratings for 1,600 financial institutions, more than 1,000 enterprises, 70 countries, 1,400 local governments and 78% of the Global Institutional Finance was rated.

Since the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recognized the above three companies as "Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization" or "NRSRO" (Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization) in 1975, the three companies have monopolized the international rating industry. According to a report by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), among all the banks and companies participating in credit ratings in the world, Moody's covers 80% of banks and 78% of companies, and Standard & Poor's covers 37% of banks and 66% of companies. , Fitch covers 27% of banks and 8% of companies. Annual operating income is about US$1.5 billion for Moody's, more than US$1 billion for Standard & Poor's, and about US$500 million for Fitch International.

Credit is an inevitable product of social and economic development and an indispensable part of the operation of modern economic society. Maintaining and developing credit relationships is an important prerequisite for protecting social and economic order. Credit rating means that a professional institution or department makes an evaluation of the reliability and safety of its credit behavior based on a comprehensive understanding, investigation, research and analysis of an enterprise in accordance with certain methods and procedures, and marks it with a special symbol or A management activity expressed in simple text form. Now, with the establishment of my country's market economic system, in order to prevent credit risks and maintain normal economic order, the importance of credit ratings has become increasingly obvious, mainly reflected in:

1. Credit ratings help enterprises prevent Business risks provide good conditions for the construction of modern enterprise systems. The ultimate goal of transforming enterprise operating mechanisms and establishing a modern enterprise system is to enable enterprises to become market competition entities that operate independently in accordance with the law, are responsible for their own profits and losses, self-development, and self-discipline. When an enterprise becomes an independent stakeholder, it will also bear operational risks independently. Credit ratings will help the enterprise achieve the greatest effective economic benefits. This is because any enterprise must contact the outside world and strive to develop its own customers. These customers are the carrier through which corporate interests are realized, and are also the company's greatest risks. As market competition becomes increasingly fierce, maximizing the credit policy for customers has become one of the effective means for enterprises to compete.

These credit policies, including the determination of credit forms, term amounts, etc., must be based on scientific assessment and analysis of customers' credit status, in order to achieve the goal of maximizing returns from customers' transactions and controlling customer credit risks to a minimum. Purpose. The lessons of bad debt losses caused by not paying enough attention to the credit status of the other party and blindly pursuing customer orders are profound lessons for most enterprises. On the other hand, since credit rating is a comprehensive inspection and assessment of the internal quality of an enterprise, and enterprises with high credit ratings can obtain more credit policies in economic transactions and can reduce financing costs, it is conducive to timely detection of enterprise operations. Weak links in management also provide pressure and motivation for companies to improve their operations and management.

2. Credit rating is conducive to the fairness, justice and integrity of the capital market:

(1) Compared with ordinary investors: With the development of financial markets, various types of securities With the increasing number of issuances, investors urgently need to understand the information of the issuing entities in order to optimize investment choices, achieve investment security, and obtain reliable returns. Credit ratings can provide investors with fair and objective information, thus protecting the interests of investors.

(2) It can be used as the basis for the capital market management department to review decisions and maintain the order and stability of the capital market. Because credit rating is a prerequisite for government authorities to approve bond issuance, it can limit issuers to companies with strong debt repayment capabilities and high creditworthiness.

(3) Credit ratings also help companies raise funds at low cost. Enterprises urgently require that their operating conditions be reasonably analyzed and properly evaluated, so that banks and public investors can provide financial support according to their operating management level and credit status, and improve their credit rating through continuous improvement of operating management. , reduce the cost of loan financing and enjoy the corresponding rights and interests to the maximum extent.

3. Credit rating is the basis for commercial banks to determine the degree of loan risk and the basis for credit asset risk management. As the main unit of economic activities, enterprises have close credit relationships with banks, and bank credit is one of them. One of the important sources of funds for production development, the quality of its production and operation activities and the standardization of its behavior are directly related to the quality and efficiency of bank credit funds. This requires banks to monitor the business activities of enterprises. operating results. Profitability, solvency, etc. are scientifically evaluated to determine the degree of uncertainty of credit asset losses and prevent loan risks to the greatest extent.