Business Management Skills

Moody’s Investor Service is one of the most world-renowned sources for credit ratings, risk analysis and economic research. They currently serve over 9,300 customers at 2,400 institutions world-wide. According to the company page, their “ratings and analysis covers more than 100 sovereign nations, 12,000 corporate issuers, 29,000 public finance issuers and 96,000 structured finance obligations.” Their end goal is to give advice industry professionals and investors can use to protect their investments.

The primary job of Moody’s Investor Service is to provide ratings on stock products, bonds and financial commodities. Investors (either individuals or businesses) who wish to sink their dollars into something usually check the rating system first before deciding how much to invest or where to put their money. In addition to investment advisory services, Moody’s also “publishes investor oriented credit research, including in-depth research on major debt issuers, industry studies, special comments and credit opinion handbooks,” www.moodys.com reports. This information often affects buyer purchasing decisions, such as when to buy a new automobile, when to buy real estate or what sort of investments they should sell off.

Moody’s Investor Service is not without controversy. In lieu of the financial crisis, credit rating agencies like Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s have been accused of assigning top tier “AAA” ratings to bogus investments and stock products that were backed by subprime mortgages and other bad debt. Their ABS Collateralized Debt Obligations sector, for instance, lost $125 million, despite having the best ratings. However, as NY Times writer David Gillen wrote in a June 4, 2009 article, old methodologies die hard. “Even now, it is difficult — in fact, impossible — for big investors to ignore credit ratings completely,” he writes. “By law, banks and insurance companies must take ratings into account when investing in bonds. Big money managers, and their customers, often base investment guidelines on them.”

Rene Lacape is a well trained insurance agent who has been in the industry for so long. Many clients have been satisfied and have been recommending him to others. Check his website so you will know for yourself what goodness of dealing with him is.