06 February 2009

Council Presidency compromise package on Credit Rating Agencies

The Presidency issued a compromise package on the proposed directive on CRAs. Changes and clarifications were made in particular with regard to the treatment of UCITS, the use of ratings issued in third countries, and the transparency of ratings.

The Presidency issued a compromise package on the proposed directive on CRAs following the discussions in the working party meetings. Changes and clarifications were made in particular with regard to the treatment of UCITS, the use of ratings issued in third countries, and the transparency of ratings.

 

The credit rating agency that endorsed credit ratings issued in third countries should be fully and unconditionally responsible for the endorsed credit ratings and the fulfilment of the respective conditions referred to in Article 4(4), the text says.

 

The text also deals with supervisory issues. A college of competent authorities should represent the effective platform for an exchange of supervisory information among competent authorities, co-ordination of their activities and supervisory measures necessary for effective supervision of credit rating agencies, it says.

 

The text also proposes changes to the CRD directive and intends to introduce, among others, a new recital 14 a), which says:

“The provisions related to ECAI under this Directive should be consistent with the regulation [X] relative to Credit Rating Agencies (“CRA”). In particular, the Committee of European Banking Supervisors should review its guidelines on the recognition of ECAI to avoid duplication of work and reduce burden of the recognition process where the ECAI is registered as a CRA at the EU level.”

 

The full text is attached below
A revision note was issued on 9 February and is also attached below

 

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