Pierre Cailleteau, Moody’s (MCO) head of the sovereign rating group, has decided to leave the firm, one of the world’s three main credit ratings agencies. A spokesman from Moody’s told Reuters that Cailleteau had notified the company about his decision.
“A date has not yet been set for his departure and a permanent replacement has not been named, [the] spokesman said. Bart Oosterveld, chief credit officer for public sector ratings, which includes sovereign ratings, will lead the sovereign team on an interim basis.
Cailleteau’s decision to leave was his own and was not related to market events or recent criticisms of rating agencies, Oosterveld said.”
Cailleteau’s resignation comes amid intense criticism from the European Union on sovereign rating actions taken by the three major rating agencies, Moody’s Corp’s Moody’s Investors Service, McGraw-Hill Companies Inc’s Standard & Poor’s (MHP) and Fimalac’s Fitch Ratings, that make independent decisions on credit worthiness of government bonds. Their latest ratings on Greece, Spain and Portugal sparked a market freefall last couple of weeks and incited a $145 billion bailout plan for the euro zone.
Time for Moody’s to issue a junk-rating on itself.
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