Bond market welcomes first foreign credit rating agency
29 January, 2019
S&P Global Inc. has been given the green light to carry out credit rating operations in China and to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in Beijing, according to a statement on the central bank’s website, The Paper reported.
This marks a new stage in the opening up of China’s credit rating industry, as S&P is one of the most influential rating agencies in the world, said Zhong Huiyong, deputy director of the Institute of Financial Development at Shanghai University of International Business and Economics.
At present, bond defaults in the domestic bond market continue to increase. The participation of professional international rating agencies will provide domestic investors with more valuable bond rating information, attract more foreign investors and help more domestic companies to successfully issue bonds and serve the real economy, Zhong added.
On the one hand, China should be fully open to other qualified foreign credit rating agencies other than S&P. On the other hand, it should also fully open to domestic credit rating agencies to evaluate all types of bonds, Zhong added.