In the recent financial crisis, rating agencies have become a focus of attention. The market has traditionally been dominated by a few big agencies, currently Standard & Poor, Moody’s and Fitch. In 2006, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) introduced measures to speed up the approval process for rating agencies with the aim to increase competition. However, in response to the financial crisis, the Fed introduced lending programmes for which— this is what it said initially— it accepts only collateral that has been appraised by one of the big three. Discuss the likely consequences of such a decision on market structure.