Using Agency Revenue Geography to Study Sovereign Rating Conflicts

Summary

The document proposes measuring possible conflicts of interest between credit rating agencies and countries through the share of agency revenue associated with each country. The idea is to look beyond direct payments from governments and consider fees paid by national companies, banks, and other financial institutions. Such a measure could serve as a research variable for examining whether revenue exposure aligns with sovereign ratings.

The response points to Bloomberg balance-sheet information for Moody’s as a possible source, but gives no specific fields, country breakdown, or evidence that comparable data are available for S&P and Fitch. It does not establish that revenue geography identifies conflicts or explain how to separate country exposure from other influences. Researchers would need to verify the data coverage and construct a defensible method for attribution before treating the proposed measure as a conflict indicator.

Key ideas

• Country-level revenue exposure could be explored as a proxy for potential rating-agency conflicts.
• Relevant fees may come from private firms and financial institutions within a country.
• The response identifies Bloomberg balance-sheet data for Moody’s as a possible starting point.
• The document does not confirm comparable data availability or validate the proposed proxy.

Tags

# Moody's, S&P, Fitch revenues per country


# Moody's, S&P, Fitch revenues per country












I need a variable which identifies the possible conflict of interests between credit rating agencies and countries, although they do not pay in order to be rated. Such a variable could be the proportion of income coming from each country, namely how many national private companies or banks or other financial institutions pay the CRAs for their services. Do you think I can find such data on the agencies' balancesheet, maybe they divide the revenues for market segment?

Or other Ideas are welcomed! :)

## Answer by MFib (score 2)

https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/27880

Since only Moody's is quoted please find below what I could find on BBG for Moody's:

If it is on Bloomberg, then you can find it in its balance-sheet. Have fun :)

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This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.