Credit rating agencies in Singapore are not expected to have their business affected by the European Commission’s decision to strip five countries of some market access rights, said Singapore authorities on Monday (July 29).
In a statement on Monday, the EU commission confirmed it has deemed that Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Singapore no longer regulate credit rating agencies as rigorously as the EU does. It is therefore removing a status that made it possible for European banks to rely on those ratings directly, and this is the first time such access rights – called equivalence provisions – have been withdrawn, although some temporary permissions for Switzerland were allowed to lapse earlier this year.
However the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), which regulates the four credit rating agencies here, said on Monday that credit rating agencies here will continue to be able to access the EU market through a separate endorsement regime, which they already operate under. “Under this regime, ratings issued by credit rating agencies in Singapore are endorsed by their related entities in the EU, and can continue to be recognised and used for regulatory purposes in the EU,” MAS added
The four agencies here are: Standard and Poors; Fitch Ratings; Moody’s and AM Best Asia Pacific.
Source: Straits Times
