Regulatory use
United States
Legal Background
In 2006, the US enacted the “Credit Rating Agency Reform Act”http://www.sec.gov/divisions/marketreg/ratingagency/cra-reform-act-2006.pdf
According to Section 3 “Definitions” a Credit Rating means “an assessment of the creditworthiness of an obligor as an entity or with respect to specific securities or money market instruments”.
The term ‘nationally recognized statistical rating organization’ ("NRSRO") means a credit rating agency that:
- has been in business as a credit rating agency for at least the 3 consecutive years immediately preceding the date of its application for registration under section 15E;
- issues credit ratings certified by qualified institutional buyers, in accordance with section 15E(a)(1)(B)(ix), with respect to
(i) financial institutions, brokers, or dealers;
(ii) insurance companies;
(iii) corporate issuers;
(iv) issuers of asset-backed securities (as that term is defined in section 1101(c) of part 229 of title 17, Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on the date of enactment of this paragraph);
(v) issuers of government securities, municipal securities, or securities issued by a foreign government; or
(vi) a combination of one or more categories of obligors described in any of clauses (i) through (v); and
- is registered under section 15E.
In 2010, the US Congress adopted the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”). This Act includes in its Title IX Subtitle C “improvements to the Regulation on Credit Rating Agencies”. http://www.sec.gov/divisions/marketreg/ratingagency/wallstreetreform-cpa-ix-c.pdf
This Dodd-Frank Act addresses a.o. the following issues:
- Enhanced regulation, accountability and Transparency of NRSROs by establishing requirements on internal controls over processes for determining credit ratings, on the separation of ratings from sales and marketing, and look-back requirements (in case an NRSRO employee move to a rated entity)
- The SEC shall report annually over its annual examination at NRSROs and establish an Office of Credit Ratings http://www.sec.gov/about/offices/ocr.shtml
- Requirements on rating methodologies and their review,
- Removing statutory references to credit ratings in the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act, the Investment Company Act, the Securities Exchange Act within 2 years of the adopted of the Dodd-Frank Act and by replacing them with other measures of alternative measures of creditworthiness
- Several reports and studies
Registered players
Currently registered as Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organisation ("NRSRO") with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") are the following companies:
Relations with European Union
On March 15th, ESMA announced that EU-registered CRAs may endorse credit ratings issued in the United States. In July 2012, ESMA and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding regarding the cooperation of competent authorities for the supervision of Credit Rating Agencies. http://www.esma.europa.eu/system/files/esma-sec_mou_march_2012.pdf
On April 18th, 2012, ESMA issued its technical advice to the European Commission and concluded that the US legal and supervisory framework for CRAs is equivalent to the EU regulatory regime.http://www.esma.europa.eu/system/files/2012_-259_0.pdf.
On October 5th, 2012, the European commission adopted the decision on the recognition of the legal supervisory frameworks of the US as equivalent to the requirements of the EU CRA Regulation.http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:274:0032:0033:EN:PDF
Out of the 10 registered NRSROs, the following are endorsing ratings issued in the US: A.M. Best Company, DBRS Inc, Fitch Inc. Moody’s and S&P.
Japan Credit Rating Agency, Kroll Bond Rating Agency and Egan-Jones are certified by ESMA, the others not.