Big Three (credit rating agencies)

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The Big Three credit rating agencies are S&P Global Ratings, Moody's Ratings, and Fitch Ratings. S&P and Moody's are based in Manhattan; Fitch is dual-headquartered in Manhattan and London and is wholly owned by Hearst Communications through Fitch Group. In the EU the three accounted for 91.87% of credit-rating-agency revenue in 2025 (S&P 50.42%, Moody's 29.63%, Fitch 11.82%). In the US they accounted for 92.9% of outstanding ratings reported by the ten registered nationally recognized statistical rating organizations as of 31 December 2025. A 2013 Council on Foreign Relations summary put their combined global share at "roughly 95%", with S&P and Moody's at about 40% each and Fitch at about 15%. According to an analysis by Deutsche Welle, "their special status has been cemented by law — at first only in the United States, but then in Europe as well." From the mid-1990s until early 2003, the Big Three were the only "Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations (NRSROs)" in the...

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