
Role of rating agencies in the creditworthiness of insurance firms 255
䊏 Discovery, and
䊏 Communication.
To a large extent, communication includes confidential information, and personal
meetings held with the rated company’s senior management. Companies issue policies
or issue debt, and independent agencies are asked to rate the firm and the debt. But
while rating agencies may be commissioned by specific companies, in essence they
believe that their ultimate client is the market.
Ratings influence in a significant way the interest companies have to pay for their
debt. During the aforementioned mid-November 2002 hearings at the Securities and
Exchange ...