Divided by a common language? The European Commission’s close interest in credit ratings reflects not a transatlantic misunderstanding but a global one. Triple A does not, in fact, always mean triple A.

The flawed ratings accorded to US subprime mortgages and the fragile tower of securities built on top of them raise questions about the competence of Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch, as did the Enron and WorldCom collapses. But irrespective of this, the agencies are under scrutiny partly because their position seems increasingly untenable. On the one hand, they profit from a privileged status. US laws and global Basel II capital rules sanctify their ratings – operating margins above 50 per cent are the result, for Moody’s at any rate. Yet on the other, while they may aim to act responsibly, the agencies reject both liability and regulation, claiming the same constitutional free speech protection in the US as much less profitable journalists do.