Best to Endorse Selected Ratings outside EU for Regulatory Use

A.M. Best Europe – Rating Services Limited (AMBERS) has confirmed that it has notified the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) that, effective immediately, “AMBERS intends to endorse selected ratings issued by A.M. Best Company Inc. in the United States and by A.M. Best Asia-Pacific Limited (AMBAP) in Hong Kong to enable such ratings to be used for regulatory purposes in the European Union. AMBERS’ general practice will be to endorse only ratings at the request of rated companies.”

Best explained that the endorsement “is a mechanism established by the credit rating agency regulations in the European Union to enable ratings issued by members of a rating agency group outside of the European Union to be used for regulatory purposes within the European Union where the rating complies with certain conditions as set out in Article 4(3) of EC No. 1060/2009.

“In February 2014, AMBERS confirmed that it had obtained External Credit Assessment Institution (ECAI) status under new European Union (EU) regulations, which came into force in January 2014. This followed the adoption in June 2013 of the EU legislative package known as the Capital Requirements Directive IV (CRD IV), which confers ECAI status on all credit rating agencies registered or certified in the EU.”

Dr. Roger Sellek, CEO of AMBERS and AMBAP, commented: “The ability now to endorse non-EU ratings will be of particular interest to A.M. Best’s worldwide clients ensuring that their ratings can have regulatory recognition within the EU for capital and other purposes.”

Source: A.M. Best

Topics Legislation Europe AM Best