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Steaming on with ratings

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CREDIT ratings are the brainchild of an American who published financial information about railway companies in the United States at the beginning of this century.

John Moody published the Manual of Railroad Securities, which laid the groundwork for the ratings that are used today.

Mr Moody first started publishing a guide to companies and the securities they issued in 1900.

He eventually realised investors had no way of evaluating the risk of a bond and no way of comparing the risk of potential bond investments listed in his manuals.

The result was the range of credit assessments now used by Moody's Investors Service.

It runs from Aaa for the best credits to C, which refers to penny dreadfuls.

Edward Young, head of the Hong Kong-based office of Moody's Asia-Pacific, said: 'In the early years of the 20th century, the US shared certain features that are present in Asia today.

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