... for financing and less need to rely on bonds. Another reason was that commercial banks introduced term loans as an alternative to bond financing. As an institution-based rather than market-based ... of financial assets, the institutions (both public and private) that guarantee the assets, and the asset managers that act as agents for the principals or owners. An asset manager, for example, ... regulation. If ratings are used, for example, to help in determining the capital adequacy of financial intermediaries, the underlying rationale would rest at least in part on thinking that such...