Meredith Whitney To Set Up Rating Agency To Rival Moody's & S&P

Meredith Whitney recently said in an interview with the Financial Times that she plans to set up her own rating agency that would rival Moody's and Standard & Poor's.

Meredith Whitney widely gained recognition for her bearish call on banks before the financial crisis.

Ms. Whitney told the Financial Times that her new agency would use the same business model as established agencies, in which issuers of debt pay for ratings. She maintainted that she would be able to manage potential conflicts of interest, saying: “If you run a good business and you have compliance in place, there should not be problems.”

Meredith Whitney set up her own research company last year after leaving her job as an analyst with Oppenheimer. Whitney told the Financial Times that she was "In the process of applying for a NRSRO licence with the intention of being a formal competitor to S&P and Moody's."

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