Salomon Smith Barney

G. Yang, Outlook for CMP Consumables, Salomon Smith Barney, 2002. 

To assess credit risk, individual investors are made aware of the issuer s creditworthiness by agencies such as Standard Poor s, Moody s, Fitch, and other bond-rating firms. Often, to make an issue more attractive, an issuer— usually a company or a municipality—will seek the stellar reputation of an underwriter (Salomon Smith Barney, Merrill Lynch, etc.) and now, as additional strength, will include a layer of insurance in the deal—all to reassure investors that credit risk is minimal. 

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