Credit for the Elderly or the Disabled For use in preparing 2012 Returns
However, it is important to note that while the major credit rating agencies
are a major source of creditworthiness for bond investors, they are far from the
only potential source. A few smaller rating fifi rms—notably KMV, Egan-Jones, and
Lace Financial, all of which had “investor pays” business models—were able to
survive, despite the absence of NRSRO designations (although KMV was absorbed
by Moody’s in 2002). Some bond mutual funds do their own research, as do some
hedge funds. “Fixed income analysts” at many fifi nancial services fifi rms offer recommendations
to those fifi rms’ clients with respect to bond investments...