Star analyst Meredith Whitney aims to launch a new credit rating agency to compete toe-to-toe with Standard & Poor's and Moody's. She will soon seek a license to act as a nationally recognized statistical rating organization, a designation needed to formally rate debt. Whitney decided to seek such status for her company after creating ratings for various municipal bond issues, which she sells to investors, she told the Financial Times.

Some will be disappointed to learn that the new company will embrace the same old business model that proved so controversial for S&P and Moody's. That is, her firm's revenue method will call for issuers to pay for their own ratings.

The long-simmering conflict of interest really exploded as an issue in the wake of the CDO meltdown, amid lots of serious revelations about just how compromised the rating process had become. Dodd-Frank imposed new controls on the agencies. But the fundamental conflict endures, though there is at least one alternative that calls for investors to pay.

Still, there is probably room for another rater to differentiate itself. We've been disappointed that some firms thought to be likely candidates to enter the market, such as accounting firms, never took the plunge. As well as whoever thought that Jules Kroll would jump in as a competitor. We'll see which new entrants make the biggest splash.

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