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CESR: rapport over Code of Conduct voor Credit Raters

Vandaag heeft CESR haar rapport aan de Europese Commissie gepubliceerd over de toepassing van de Code of Conduct voor kredietbeoordeelaars, de zgn Credit Raters (CRA's).

Deze Code of Conduct is in 2004 opgesteld door IOSCO, de wereldwijde organisatie van effectentoezichthouders, en is vervolgens op advies van CESR ook de (vrijwillige) norm in de Europese Unie geworden. In de EU zijn vier credit raters die er voor gekozen hebben om de IOSCO-norm na te leven: Moody's, Standard and Poors', Fitch Ratings en Dominion Bond Rating Service Ltd. Het CESR-rapport bevat o.m. een vergelijking van de eigen codes van deze vier organisaties met de Code van IOSCO. Daarnaast wordt in het rapport de praktische aspecten van de toepassing van de Code beschreven aan de hand van de antwoorden op een questionnaire.

CESR conludeert dat de IOSCO Code in grote lijnen wordt gevolgd. Er zijn echter belangrijke aandachtpunten, namelijk de scheiding tussen de kredietbeoordeling en de bijkomstige dienstverlening (`ancillary services') , alsmede de wijze van publicatie van ongevraagde ratings. CESR kondigt voor 2007 een nieuwe review aan.

CESR werkt op het gebied van CRA's nauw samen met IOSCO. In januari 2007 zal ook van de hand van IOSCO een rapport verschijnen over de wereldwijde toepassing van de Code of Conduct.

Voor nadere informatie wordt verwezen naar het volledige persbericht en het rapport op de website van CESR. Zie het origineel

Het originele bericht vindt u hieronder.

CESR publishes its first report to the European Commission on the compliance of the credit rating agencies with the IOSCO Code of Conduct

CESR publishes today its first report to the European Commission on the compliance of the credit rating agencies with the IOSCO Code (Ref. CESR/06-545) following the Commission's request. This draws to a culmination the outworking of this years work under the voluntary framework of co-operation between CESR and the Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) outlined in CESR's website (Ref. CESR/05-751).

The report provides a clear analysis of the codes of the four CRAs that have chosen to adhere to the voluntary framework (Moody's, Standard and Poors', Fitch Ratings and Dominion Bond Rating Service Limited) in relation to the IOSCO Code. It includes in a column format a comparison of the provisions of the IOSCO Code with the corresponding ones in the four CRAs codes, indicating in the table those measures where the CRAs have chosen to explain rather than comply, and including the CRAs' explanations. The table also provides for certain provisions some indications of how the measures are being applied in practice.

In addition to these indications provided by CRAs on the practical application of the provisions included in the table, section III of CESR's report deals more specifically with the practical aspects of the day to day application of the CRAs codes by including a summary of the responses received to the questionnaire prepared by CESR.

CESR's conclusions are explained in the last section of the report. CESR considers that the CRAs codes comply to a large extent with the IOSCO Code. There are however some areas or provisions where the CRAs codes do not comply. Some of these are of minor importance, because the CRAs acheive the desired outcome that the IOSCO Code aims at, without formally having provisions in their codes that mirror the IOSCO Code (these minor deviations can be found in the analysis provided in section II).

There are however some areas, highlighted in the last section of the report and mostly coincident with those pointed out by market participants, where the deviations are of greater importance. Some of them are common to all four CRAs, and some of them are specific to individual CRAs. In particular, the area where all the CRAs seem to have difficulties in complying with the IOSCO Code relates to the separation between the rating service and the ancillary services provided by the CRAs and the disclosure of unsolicited ratings.

Consequently, CESR considers that there is still room for improvement in the areas identified (either in specific cases or generally) and intends to look particularly into these issues in its review for 2007 to see whether there have been improvements.

While preparing its report, CESR has closely coordinated with fellow regulators, especially with IOSCO as it is currently reviewing the implementation by the CRAs of the IOSCO Code. IOSCO has set up a task force that is examining the codes of conduct released by CRAs of all sizes and jurisdictions in response to the IOSCO Code, to determine whether any trends exist with regard to non-compliance or consistent variations in interpretation by CRAs of what constitutes compliance. This information may prove valuable to determine whether any aspects of the IOSCO Code should be modified to better reflect market realities, or better explained to help ensure more consistent compliance. IOSCO expects to publish its report in January 2007.

CESR expects that its main findings about the codes of the four CRAs, which is the object of this report, are consistent with the IOSCO work. However, IOSCO has not yet finalised its paper, so it is not possible to assess with certainty the exact differences between the reports. So far, it is likely that only in-substantive differences between the conclusions of the two reports will arise, due to the different methodologies used to produce them.

CESR will continue this cooperation with IOSCO and has, in particular, set out in section IV of the report some suggestions with the aim of improving several areas of the IOSCO Code.