On 30 March 2005, at the request of the European Commission, CESR delivered its advice (CESR/05-139b) regarding the potential options to regulate Credit Rating Agencies. In its advice, CESR proposed not to regulate the Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) industry at an EU level for the time being, and instead proposed that a pragmatic approach should be adopted to keep under review how CRA’s would implement the standards set out in the IOSCO Code of Conduct.
CESR has therefore developed this strategy on the basis of voluntary participation from CRAs. The CRAs that have chosen to adhere to the voluntary framework are Moody’s, Standard and Poors’, Fitch Ratings and Dominion Bond Rating Service Limited.
The following questionnaire is addressed to all market participants and its purpose is to enable CESR to gather information on the day-to-day application of the Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) codes in practice. The deadline for comments will be 15 August and if specifically requested, respondents may be able to submit their responses on a confidential basis.
When responding, market participants are encouraged to identify the credit rating agency or agencies to which the answer refers.