| Type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Financial services |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Founder(s) | Sean Egan & Bruce Jones |
| Headquarters | Saline, Michigan[1], United States |
| Area served | Global |
| Key people | Sean Egan & Bruce Jones |
| Employees | 2 |
| Website | www.egan-jones.com |
Egan-Jones Ratings Company, also known as EJR, was founded in 1995 and actively rates the credit worthiness of approximately 2000+ high yield and high grade U.S. corporate debt issuers. Egan-Jones is wholly supported by investors to minimize the potential for conflicts of interest in accessing credit quality. On Dec. 21, 2007, the SEC granted Egan-Jones NRSRO status, thus including them in a group of what is currently ten recognized NRSROs.
The effectiveness of Egan-Jones' investor supported credit ratings has been measured by third parties including Richard D. Johnson of the Kansas City Federal Reserve, the Stanford University Business School and the University of Michigan's Business School.[2]
Sean Egan, principal of Egan-Jones Rating, appeared before Congress on October 22, 2008 and argued that issuers of complex securities "shopped" for ratings which resulted in a race to the bottom in terms of credit transparency. Rather than "beat up Moody's and S&P for behavior" they'd been financially motivated to pursue, the government needs to support a new business model paid for by investors, not issuers, to support the funding ecosystem which has so severely broken down, he asserted.[3]
Egan-Jones on July 16, 2011, became the first NRSRO to cut its rating on the United States from AAA to AA+.[4]