VEDOMOSTI. First vice PM Igor Shuvalov approved the concept of setting up a national rating agency on the basis of an international project of Universal Credit Rating Group (UCRG), which is implemented by Russia’s Rus-Rating, China’s Dagong and American Egan Jones. These are the results of a Shuvalov-chaired meeting with representatives of Russian rating agencies (Expert RA, RusRating, National Rating Agency and AK&M), banks, experts and state officials, several participants of the meeting told business daily Vedomosti.
The meeting’s attendees subscribed to the opinion that there is no taking operating agencies under one roof, and if a new agency is to be created, this should be done with no involvement of the government or the Bank of Russia. It is also necessary to work out the possibility of making wider use of ratings assigned by Russian agencies, thereby increasing their role on the market. As the paper’s two sources said, UCRG stands the strongest chance to gain government support for international projects. It was proposed to review and work on this idea as a baseline version as it is hardly possible to set up a Big 3 rival from a domestic agency, RusRating general director Alexander Zaitsev said.
Igor Shuvalov ordered the Bank of Russia, which was represented by first deputy CBR chairwoman Ksenia Yudaeva, to compile a draft law on the regulation of the rating agency market, in particular as regards their accreditation. The Finance Ministry previously accredited agencies based on the government’s order, but when market regulation duties were assigned to the Bank of Russia, no powers relating to accreditation were not specified in relevant documents, Expert RA general director Dmitry Grishankov noted. He expects this bill to be prepared fast enough given Shuvalov’s attention.
