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ARC-Ratings said it would officially launch on November 20 in London as a joint venture between CPR of Portugal, CARE Rating of India, GCR of South Africa, MARC of Malaysia, and Brazil's SR Rating.
The credit ratings business is dominated by Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch, which together are estimated to control more than 90 per cent of the market.
ARC said the dominance of the three amounted to an oligopoly of sorts, US centric and prone to failures, as highlighted after the 2008 subprime crisis in the United States and the eurozone's more recent problems. "Working together, the agencies will provide ratings answers to the new multi-polar world economy in direct competition with US-centric agencies", ARC said, adding that its ratings would be guided by a "multi-perspective approach and local expertise". "An automatic centre of gravity is replaced by a global cooperative approach to credit ratings."