I am investigating the impact of new regulation on credit rating agencies (CRAs), that is being implemented as a result of the 2008 financial crisis and the EU sovereign debt crisis. CRA had an important role to play in these recent crises and the new regulation aims at tackling the mistakes made. My aim is to investigate whether the proposed, and implemented, regulation will have a positive effect on the credit rating market. I am to use my findings to make constructive suggestions as to how new regulation should be structured and implemented.

Much of the academic community is divided over which direction new regulation should take. Should we move to greater regulatory stringency? Or should deregulation be the way forward? One of my aims is to evaluate the impact of increased competition and inherent conflicts of interest on the credit rating market.