With the Credit Rating Agencies being the exclusive research concern of this author, it is unsurprising that they, as an industry, have featured heavily here in Financial Regulation Matters . As such, we tend to keep abreast of developments within this industry as well as other key financial areas, and in this post we will continue this approach by examining the latest ‘move’ in this particular marketplace. We recently looked at developments within Scope Ratings , the European entity seeking to provide a pan-European alternative, whilst we also looked at recent mergers that potentially concern the so-called ‘Big Three’ (in relation to sale of Acuris ). To complement these analyses we looked closer at the concept of an ‘ oligopoly ’ and its application onto the credit rating industry, which allows us to understand the dynamics between the Big Three and their relationship with the rest of the marketplace. We will soon be analysing a new entrant into the marketplace in the coming weeks...