The Big Three credit rating agencies, under fire for failing to anticipate the global financial crisis, have spurred new players to offer alternatives but the trio's dominance of the sector seems secure for the moment, analysts said.
"It's a matter of at the same time introducing more competition while making investors less sensitive to the ratings," said Jerome Cazes, head of the French credit insurer Coface.
Coface and another French insurer, Euler Hermes, along with US entities Egan Jones, DBRS and Meredith Whitney Advisory Group, are all anxious to do battle with the Big Three -- Moody's Investors Service, Fitch Ratings and Standard and Poor's.
The Chinese agency, Dagon Global Credit Rating, has also attracted attention after it downgraded the United States for its massive debt overhang.