I don't see how an article titled 'Credit Ratings Agencies - Who made them so powerful ?' doesn't discuss the idea of the Nationally Recognized Statistical Rati

I don't see how an article titled 'Credit Ratings Agencies - Who made them so powerful ?' doesn't discuss the idea of the Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations (Yes, there is a passing mention of the SEC, but this is the answer to the question): Ratings by NRSRO are used for a variety of regulatory purposes in the United States. In addition to net capital requirements (described in more detail below), the SEC permits certain bond issuers to use a shorter prospectus form when issuing bonds if the issuer is older, has issued bonds before, and has a credit rating above a certain level. SEC regulations also require that money market funds (mutual funds that mimick the safety and liquidity of a bank savings deposit, but without FDIC insurance) comprise only securities with a very high rating from an NRSRO. Likewise, insurance regulators use credit ratings from NRSROs to ascertain the strength of the reserves held by insurance companies. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationally_Recognized_Statistical_Rating_Organizations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationally_Recognized_Statistic...