CONTACTS:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LONDON - DECEMBER 01, 2016 09:02 AM (EST)
A.M. Best Europe – Rating Services Limited (AMBERS) has welcomed the completion of the independent exercise to map ratings for financial market users across the European Economic Area (EEA).
AMBERS first obtained External Credit Assessment Institution (ECAI) status in January 2014 in line with European Union (EU) regulations that had just come into force. 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.
ECAIs play a significant role in the standardised approach and securitisation framework of prudential regulation through the mapping of each of their credit assessments to corresponding risks. The European Banking Authority (EBA), together with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), conducted the mapping exercise, which was completed in October 2016 and formally adopted on 1 November 2016, and now will enable the ratings to be used for risk-weighting purposes for banking regulatory capital and insurance regulatory capital under Solvency II.
Nick Charteris-Black, A.M. Best Managing Director, Market Development –EMEA, said: “The completion of the formal mapping exercise now provides a useful comparison for users and helps to reinforce A.M. Best’s ECAI status not only in the European (re)insurance marketplace, but also in the broader financial markets within the EU.”
To view the outlined objectives, key aspects and the results of the mapping exercise, as published in the Official Journal of the European Union, please see the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1799 of 7 October 2016.
A.M. Best Europe – Rating Services Limited is a subsidiary of A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. A.M. Best Company is the world’s oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source.