The rating agencies promote the largest banks and those with which they do the most business, and which, that is, issue the largest number of derivative securities (which are compulsorily subjected to the scrutiny of the agencies, with what, in terms of commissions, follows ), thus fueling their business.
A document from the ECB even supports it (which on the cover specifies how the thesis contained expresses the point of view of the authors and not necessarily that of the bank), anticipated this morning by "ilSole 24 Ore" and entitled "Bank ratings: what determines their quality?".
After collecting the data of the 1.189 issuers of abs derivative securities collected in the Dealogic database, the researchers cross-referenced the list of the 200 largest issuers (which cover a market share of 90%) with that of the 369 banks that received the best votes, reaching the conclusion that as many as 53 institutions were included in both lists, while the remaining 147, for the vast majority, are not banks.
In any case, the figure is not surprising, but the ECB's authority certainly cloaks the search for great credibility, and puts it once again the system of rating agencies is being questioned which, in addition to being fallible, seriously risks proving to be self-referential.
