Hedge funds, insurers, and other companies that do business with Wall Street megabanks will pay a price for regulators’ efforts to ensure any future collapse of a giant lender doesn’t tank the entire financial system.

The withering US municipal bond market will shrink even more next year, with interest rate and credit risks keeping both investors and borrowers away.

For the big three credit rating agencies, growing criticism this past week that their ratings systems are flawed must have sounded like a familiar refrain.