Moody's Analytics is a subsidiary of
Moody's Corporation
Moody's Corporation, often referred to as Moody's, is an American business and financial services company. It is the holding company for Moody's Investors Service (MIS), an American credit rating agency, and Moody's Analytics (MA), an American p ...
established in 2007 to focus on non-rating activities, separate from
Moody's Investors Service
Moody's Investors Service, often referred to as Moody's, is the bond credit rating business of Moody's Corporation, representing the company's traditional line of business and its historical name. Moody's Investors Service provides international ...
. It provides economic research regarding risk, performance and financial modeling, as well as consulting, training and software services. Moody's Analytics is composed of divisions such as Moody's KMV, Moody's Economy.com, Moody's Wall Street Analytics, the Institute of Risk Standards and Qualifications, and
Canadian Securities Institute Global Education Inc.
History
In 1995, Moody's Corporation started a business unit providing
quantitative analysis services, including credit risk assessment software and services after acquiring Financial Proformas, Inc., called Moody's Risk Management Service (MRMS).
In early 2000 Moody's acquired the Software Products Group of
Crowe, Chizek & Co., then the eighth largest accounting and consulting firm in the U.S., which brought software used by banks to analyze the risk in taking on commercial loans. The same year, MRMS partnered with
RiskMetrics
The RiskMetrics variance model (also known as exponential smoother) was first established in 1989, when Sir Dennis Weatherstone, the new chairman of J.P. Morgan, asked for a daily report measuring and explaining the risks of his firm. Nearly f ...
to develop software that combined credit risk analysis with portfolio management.
In February 2002, Moody's purchased KMV (Kealhofer, McQuown and
Vasicek), a
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
-based quantitative
risk management firm, and merged it with MRMS to create Moody's KMV. The company acquired KMV's clients and its software tool for calculating the probability of credit default, EDF (Expected Default Frequency). Moody's KMV integrated financial modeling software from each former company and, in 2003, debuted its credit risk management system, Credit Monitor.
In 2005, Moody's acquired Economy.com, an economics research and analytics firm based in
West Chester, Pennsylvania
West Chester is a borough and the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania. Located within the Philadelphia metropolitan area, the borough had a population of 18,461 at the 2010 census. West Chester is the mailing address for most of its neighb ...
, adding services related to economic and demographic research,
country analysis, and data on industrial, financial and regional markets.
The following year, in December 2006 the firm acquired Wall Street Analytics, a San Francisco-based financial analysis and monitoring software developer founded by
Ron Unz
Ronald Keeva Unz (; born September 20, 1961) is an American technology entrepreneur, political activist, writer, and publisher. A former businessman, Unz became a multi-millionaire in Silicon Valley before entering politics. He unsuccessfully r ...
, which then became Moody's Wall Street Analytics.
The acquisition brought with it software for financial risk management, including CDOnet, a tool for
collateralized debt obligation
A collateralized debt obligation (CDO) is a type of structured asset-backed security (ABS). Originally developed as instruments for the corporate debt markets, after 2002 CDOs became vehicles for refinancing mortgage-backed securities (MBS).Lepke ...
(CDO) valuation.
In August 2007,
Moody's Corporation
Moody's Corporation, often referred to as Moody's, is an American business and financial services company. It is the holding company for Moody's Investors Service (MIS), an American credit rating agency, and Moody's Analytics (MA), an American p ...
created a new division for its combined non-ratings businesses, Moody's Analytics, to operate separately from
Moody's Investors Service
Moody's Investors Service, often referred to as Moody's, is the bond credit rating business of Moody's Corporation, representing the company's traditional line of business and its historical name. Moody's Investors Service provides international ...
.
Subsidiary companies that make up Moody's Analytics today include Moody's KMV, Economy.com, Wall Street Analytics, Fermat International, Enb Consulting Ltd., and, most recently,
CSI Global Education Inc. The division began operations with Moody's KMV, Economy.com and Wall Street Analytics, and other subsidiary companies were added to Moody's Analytics through later acquisitions.
In 2008, Moody's Analytics acquired
Fermat International, a
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
-based provider of software for financial risk and performance management in the banking sector,
used by over 100 banks across 30 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
In December 2008, Moody's Analytics added Enb Consulting Ltd., a provider of professional training and career services in the financial sector based in
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, to Moody's Analytics Training Services.
Its services include technical and
soft skills
Soft skills, also known as power skills, common skills or core skills, are skills applicable to all professions. These include critical thinking, problem solving, public speaking, professional writing, teamwork, digital literacy, leadership, pr ...
training programs for banking and capital markets professionals.
Moody's Analytics further added to its training services in November 2010, when it acquired
Canadian Securities Institute Global Education Inc. (CSI), a provider of training and certification for the financial sector, best known for its introductory course to stocks and bonds, the
Canadian Securities Course
The Canadian Securities Institute (CSI; formerly, CSI Global Education) is a Canadian organization that offers licensing courses, advanced certifications, continuing education and custom training for financial services professionals in Canada an ...
, which is mandatory for Canadian licensed investment advisers.
In June 2010, Moody's Analytics formed a strategic alliance with
Experian
Experian is an American–Irish multinational data analytics and consumer credit reporting company. Experian collects and aggregates information on over 1 billion people and businesses including 235 million individual U.S. consumers and more t ...
to provide software for financial institutions to manage consumer loan portfolios. The first product provided by the companies was Moody's CreditCycle Plus, a tool to forecast potential losses and provide
stress testing
Stress testing (sometimes called torture testing) is a form of deliberately intense or thorough testing used to determine the stability of a given system, critical infrastructure or entity. It involves testing beyond normal operational capacity, ...
of loan portfolios.
In March 2011 Moody's Analytics announced the release of a software program developed by
Moody's Research Labs, the Mortgage Portfolio Analyzer, to assist portfolio managers in managing credit risk.
In November 2011, Moody's Corporation acquired a major stake in Copal Partners, providers of outsourced research and analytical services to institutional customers. This acquisition extends the research, data, software and training services offered by Moody's Analytics.
In December 2011, Moody's Corporation added Barrie & Hibbert Limited, a provider of risk management modeling tools for insurance companies, to Moody's Analytics enterprise risk management services in a deal worth £50,000,000.
In December 2013, Moody's acquired Amba Investment Services, a provider of investment research and quantitative analytics for global financial institutions.
In October 2014, Moody's acquired Lewtan, a provider to members of the global asset-securitization industry.
In December 2016, Copal Amba, formerly a Moody's Analytics subsidiary, was merged with Moody's Analytics to form Moody's Analytics' Knowledge Services unit.
Mark Almeida has been president of Moody's Analytics since January 2008 until October 2019. In October 2017, SBI collaborated with Moody's Analytics to train staffs.
Moody's Analytics acquired
Bureau van Dijk
Bureau van Dijk is a major publisher of business information, and specialises in private company data combined with software for searching and analysing companies. It is a Moody's Analytics company. Orbis is Bureau van Dijk's flagship company ...
in 2017.
In November 2017, the
Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...
charged three Chinese employees of Guangzhou Bo Yu Information Technology Company Limited with
hacking into corporate entities in the United States, including Moody's Analytics.
Moody's Analytics acquired
Cortera in 2021.
Moody's Analytics acquired kompany in 2021.
Products and services
Moody's Analytics' products include Market Implied Ratings (MIR) and Expected Default Frequency (EDF) software packages. MIR applies Moody's ratings scale to credit and equity market
price signal
A price signal is information conveyed to consumers and producers, via the prices offered or requested for, and the amount requested or offered of a product or service, which provides a signal to increase or decrease quantity supplied or quantit ...
s so users can identify investment opportunities; EDF estimates a company's credit default probability based on quantitative factors including
market capitalization
Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders.
Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by t ...
,
equity
Equity may refer to:
Finance, accounting and ownership
* Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them
** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business
** Home equity, the dif ...
,
volatility and
capital structure
In corporate finance, capital structure refers to the mix of various forms of external funds, known as capital, used to finance a business. It consists of shareholders' equity, debt (borrowed funds), and preferred stock, and is detailed in the ...
.
The division also provides financial institutions with analytical and
risk management software, including its RiskAnalyst credit risk management software, which is used to provide analysis of credit data for
commercial loan
In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that de ...
s and to calculate risk.
References
{{Authority control
American companies established in 2007
Financial software companies
Macroeconomics consulting firms
Risk analysis
Multinational companies
Financial services companies based in New York City
Financial technology companies
Research and analysis firms
Research and analysis firms of the United States
Financial services companies established in 2007
2007 establishments in New York City