Historical List...

Assembling a list of all the world's credit rating agencies is a hopeless task, but I have made a furtive effort here.  I count 57 (ca. Nov-2004) rating agencies!  This is down form 74 that I'd tabulated on my prior list (ca. Summer 2002).  Some simply disappeared while other appear to be emerging market agencies that merges with the "big three".  There are also two opposing forces of "consolidating for efficiency" on the one hand versus "emerging market governments putting their own spin on their company's credits" on the other.

Finally, there is a growing trend for mechanical credit scoring gaining more acceptance and application.  I see this trend fueled by: a) increased uniformity and electronic reporting of financial information, 2) decreased "name recognition" of borrowers by investor/lenders, as 3) credit becomes more global, and 4) an increased ability to make use of a quantitative value within the growing tide of Credit Value-at-Risk models/systems.

Credit Rating Agencies -- globally  (Refreshed Feb-2006)

1. A.M. Best
2. Agence d'Évaluation Financière (ADEF)
3. Agusto & Co. Ltd. -- Nigeria
4. BRC Investor Services S.A.
5. Capital Intelligence Limited with offices in Cyprus and Hong Kong
6. Calificadora de Riesgo PCA
7. Caribbean Information & Credit Rating Services Limited (CariCRIS)
8. Central European Rating Agency (CERA) -- Renamed "Fitch Polska S.A."
9. China Lianhe Credit Rating Co. Ltd. -- (China)
10. Clasificadora de Riesgo Humphreys Limitada (Chile)
11. CMC International -- Nigeria
12. Companhia Portuguesa de Rating (CPR)
13. CRA Rating Agency  (formerly, Czech Rating Agency)
14. Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Ltd. (CRAB)
15. Credit Analysis & Research Ltd (CARE) -- India
16. Credit Information Bureau Ltd. (CIB) -- India
17. Credit Rating Information and Services, Ltd. (CRISL) -- Bangladesh

18. CRISIL, Limited -- India             Renamed
    Formerly known as: "Credit Rating Information Services of India"

19. Dagong Global Credit Rating Co., Ltd. -- (China)
20. Dominion Bond Rating Service (DBRS)
21. Ecuability SA -- (Ecuador)
22. Egan-Jones Rating Company -- ( US)
23. Equilibrium Clasificadora de Riesgo -- Peru
24. European Rating Agency
25. Feller Rate Clasificadora de Riesgo -- Chile
26. Fitch Ratings
27. Duff & Phelps
28. Global Credit Rating Co. -- South Africa
29. Humphreys Clasificadora de Riesgo -- Chile
30. Interfax Rating Agency (IRA) -- Russia
31. Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency (ICRA) -- India
32. Japan Credit Rating Agency, Ltd. (JCRA) -- Japan
33. JCR-VIS Credit Rating Co. Ltd. -- Pakistan
34. Korea Investors Service (KIS)
35. Malaysian Rating Corporation Berhad
36. Mikuni
37. Moody's Investors Service
38. National Information and Credit Evaluation (NICE)
39. ONICRA Credit Rating Agency of India Ltd. -- India
40. Pacific Credit Rating
41. Pakistan Credit Rating Agency (PACRA)
42. Philippine Rating Services Corp. -- Philippines
43. P.T. Kasnic Credit Rating Indonesia -- Indonesia
44. P.T. PEFINDO Credit Rating Indonesia
45. Rapid Ratings
46. Rating Agency Malaysia Berhad (RAM)
47. Rating and Investment Information, Inc. -- Japan
48. Ratto-Humphreys Calificadora de Riesgo S.A. (Argentina)
49. Rus Ratings -- (Russian)
50. Seoul Credit Rating & Information, Inc. -- Korea
51. Shanghai Credit Information Services Co., Ltd. -- China
52. Shanghai Far East Credit Rating Co., Ltd.
53. SKATE
54. Slovak Rating Agency
55. Sociedad Calificadora de Riesgo Centroamericana SA -- Costa Rica
56. Standard and Poors
57. Taiwan Ratings Corporation (TCR) -- Taiwan
58. Thai Rating and Information Services (TRIS) -- Thailand
59. Thompson BankWatch
60. VALUE Calificadora de Riesgo, S.A.
61. Veribanc
62. Weiss Ratings Inc.
63. Xinhua Far East China Ratings -- (China)

Rating Agencies: Is There an Agency Issue?