In the past three years, corporate investigator Jules Kroll'sKroll Bond Rating Agency has quickly risen to the top as a rater ofcommercial mortgage-backed securities. Thanks in part to the factthat Standard & Poor's has been locked out of thecommercial-mortgage market since backing out of a 2011 deal,Kroll's company has established itself firmly and provided acounterweight to Moody's, which dominates the market for suchratings.

Kroll tells the Wall Street Journal that his companyissues more detailed reports earlier than his competitors. He hasalso been able to nab top analysts from other companies likeS&P. Kroll has expanded to cover municipal bonds andresidential mortgage-backed securities, but those businesses arenot yet profitable, while Kroll expects a 25% profit margin on itswork rating commercial mortgage-backed securities by the end of2013.

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For earlier coverage of the start-up credit rating agencies,see Major Credit Raters Still Dominate and New Raters Enter the Fray.