The interesting part is who is paying the credit rating companies... usually, it's the emitter of the bonds[1]. The emitter can be a state, a local region or so

The interesting part is who is paying the credit rating companies... usually, it's the emitter of the bonds[1]. The emitter can be a state, a local region or some other organization. The emission of the bound is quite often managed by a financial organization. So the interface between the bond, the credit rating company and the state is "a financial organization". Of course, they don't have any conflicting roles in working in the field... [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_rating_agencies#CRA_business_models http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_rating_agencies#CRA_busi...