The Warning-Light of Automobile Securitisation: Credit Rating Agencies and Their Role in a Post-2016 World

With 2016 providing arguably the most politically tumultuous year in recent history, the need for vigilance in the marketplace has never been greater. The proximity to the recent Financial Crisis means that any undeserved leniency now may have dramatic and irreversible effects. In this short article, the focus will be on the opportunity that the rise in automobile securitization is offering the credit rating agencies to transgress like in the 2000s. The article will discuss the dramatic rise in personal financing and the subsequent securitization and will ultimately suggest that action needs to be taken sooner rather than later, with the abiding caveat being that there must be a political appetite to do this – whether or not this appetite exists will be discussed.