Moody's Corporation

Moody's Corporation, often referred to as Moody's, is an American business and financial services company. It is the holding company for Moody's Ratings, an American credit rating agency, and Moody's, an American provider of financial analysis software and services.
moodys-corporation

Some of the key events about Moody's Corporation

  • 1909
    Established as a financial analysis company, providing credit ratings and research for bonds
  • 1909
    Began selling credit ratings, which some critics argue created conflicts of interest
  • 1914
    Published the first Moody's Manual of Industrial Securities
  • 1924
    Expanded ratings to cover nearly all of the US bond market
  • 1962
    Acquired by Dun & Bradstreet, enhancing its financial information services
  • 1975
    Recognized as a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization by the SEC
  • 1975
    Shifted from investor-paid to issuer-paid model, raising concerns about rating objectivity
  • 1998
    Introduced the Market Implied Ratings system, offering a new perspective on credit risk
  • 2000
    Became an independent company again through a spinoff from Dun & Bradstreet
  • 2001
    Failed to downgrade Enron's credit rating until days before its bankruptcy
  • 2002
    Launched Moody's Analytics to provide risk management software and services
  • 2007
    Expanded into ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) assessments
  • 2007
    Assigned high ratings to mortgage-backed securities that later defaulted during the financial crisis
  • 2008
    Faced criticism for role in the subprime mortgage crisis and subsequent global financial meltdown
  • 2010
    Accused of inflating ratings of risky mortgage-backed securities in a U.S. government investigation
  • 2011
    Downgraded U.S. credit rating from AAA to AA+, causing controversy and market turmoil
  • 2013
    Settled with U.S. Justice Department for $864 million over pre-crisis mortgage ratings
  • 2016
    Fined $864 million for contributing to the 2008 financial crisis through inaccurate ratings
  • 2018
    Agreed to pay $16.25 million to settle SEC charges of internal control failures and rating symbol deficiencies
  • 2019
    Acquired RiskFirst, enhancing its risk and financial analytics capabilities

Disclaimer: This material is written based on information taken from open sources, including Wikipedia, news media, podcasts, and other public sources.

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