Credit ratings agencies are being paid millions of dollars in annual fees on collateralised debt obligations backed by subprime mortgages that have lost most of their value in spite of being rated triple A when they were sold.

The ratings agencies are entitled to “ratings surveillance” payments under the terms of the contracts even when the CDO has performed poorly. This highlight how lucrative the in-stru-ments were for the agencies, with annual pay-outs of up to $50,000 made to track the deal even after fees were charged to rate the initial transactions.

The role of fees has come under scrutiny. A US congressional investigation found last week that Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's, the two biggest agencies, were unduly influenced in assigning ratings on CDOs by investment bankers who paid their fees.