IOSCO: Final report: Regulatory Implementation of the Statement of Principles Regarding the Activities of Credit Rating Agencies

International Organization of Securities Commissions

February 24, 2011

This Final Report of the Technical Committee (TC) of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) addresses several of the recent regulatory initiatives that impact or will shortly impact credit rating agencies (CRAs) that are active in multiple jurisdictions.

In particular, the paper reviewed CRA supervisory initiatives in Australia, the European Union (EU), Japan, Mexico, and the United States (US) in order to evaluate whether, and if so how, these regulatory programs implemented the four principles set forth in the 2003 IOSCO paper Statement of Principles Regarding the Activities of Credit Rating Agencies (IOSCO CRA Principles).

The four principles address:

1) quality and integrity in the rating process;

2) independence and conflicts of interest;

3) transparency and timeliness of ratings disclosure; and

4) confidential information.