Since the bankruptcy of the Enron Corp. in late 2001, credit rating agencies have come under scrutiny from investors regarding their methods, objectivity, and relevance in an ever-changing investment environment. And while many of the criticisms leveled against Moody's, Standard & Poor's, and Fitch were quietly swept under the rug during the 2003 to 2007 bull run, the spotlight has once again been focused on them and their apparent complicity in the perpetuation of the bubble in structured financial products (RMBS, CMBS, etc).

This latest round of failures has done nothing to improve an already tarnished reputation. However, a recent Financial Times article by Aline van Duyn ("S&P flip-flop sows confusion in CMBS market"), with additional insight from Stacy-Marie Ishmael of the FT's Alphaville blog, noted some especially unusual behavior by S&P related to its rating of several commercial mortgage-backed securities that should cause all investors to reconsider the notion that credit agency ratings are somewhat interchangeable.   More