Rating Agencies: Russia, China and US challenge rating agencies

A new agency is about to appear in the rating business that will be created by the Russians, Chinese and Americans. The agency Universal Credit Rating Group that claims to be a global player, came into being in Beijing and is the joint brainchild of the Chinese rating agency Dagong Global, the American Egan-Jones, and Russian RusRating.

Earlier, AFP reported that the Chinese rating agency Dagong planned to involve partners from the U.S. and Russia to build a new international rating agency, because the ratings of the "big three" (Fitch, Standard and Poor and Moody's), according to the Chinese side, are "inadequate." The U.S. called Dagong "inadequate", because, according to the American side, they cannot verify the adequacy of a company working in the PRC.

President of the agency Egan-Jones (USA), Sean Egan, said that excessive optimism of the U.S. agencies led to the crisis of the world economy. He added that the current rating system did not satisfy the needs of the investors. Earlier, the Financial Stability Board of G20 recommended reducing the influence of the rating agencies on investment decisions, and the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission in July launched an investigation against the S &P, suspected of unreasonably high ratings of securities, including mortgage bonds of the U.S.

The three partner organizations of the new rating agency Universal Credit Rating Group (UCRG) emphasized that they did not represent the interests of any particular country or group. Compared to the "big three" credit rating agencies, the members of the new project are ambitious "youth." RusRating was established in 2001, Dagong Global - in 1994, and Egan-Jones - in 1995. The new structure will not be able to be a serious competitor to Fitch, Moody's and S&P in the near future. In this business reputation building takes a long time.

However, the national selection of the participants in this project looks very promising - they are the largest markets and economies around the world. It is no coincidence that over 30 credit rating agencies have expressed the desire to join the group. The company's headquarters will be located in Hong Kong, and the agency will start operating in the next six months. Egan-Jones and RusRating position themselves as agencies that use a business model different from the methods of the "big three."

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