The relevance of trust and legitimacy for the introduction of credit rating agency regulation in South Africa: an application of modernity theory

[摘要] The 2007/2008 financial crisis and the role that credit rating agencies (CRA’s) playedleading up to the crisis precipitated the introduction of CRA regulation worldwide. Byusing Giddens’s (1990. 1991) theory of modernity as a framework, this studyexplores the rationale for the introduction of CRA regulation in South Africa (theCredit Rating Services Act No. 24 of 2012), with a specific focus on trust andlegitimacy. The findings in this study suggest that while the introduction of newregulation is a mechanism used to legitimise the capital system, it often haslimitations and unforeseen consequences. This study used detailed interviews withsome of South Africa’s leading experts on the credit rating industry to explain thereasoning for South African CRA regulation. Lastly, this thesis adds to the scantbody of interpretive (and normative) research on the use of arms-length regulation inmodern governance discourse, and it is also the first research to explore CRAregulation in the South African context.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand