CariCRIS’ Rating Process begins with a specific rating mandate from the issuer as CariCRIS has a policy of not assigning any unsolicited ratings. Once CariCRIS receives its mandate, together with applicable fees, CariCRIS deputes a team of analysts, designated as the ‘rating team’, to take the rating assignment forward. As a policy, all rating assignments are executed by a team of two or more analysts, to eliminate any bias in sourcing / analysing information.
The rating team conducts preliminary research and collect relevant information from the issuer, prior to conducting management meetings with various business heads and top management of the issuer. The analysis is then presented to CariCRIS’ independent Rating Committee, which has the sole authority to assign credit ratings.
The ratings thus assigned by the Rating Committee are communicated orally to the management, along with key drivers for the rating. At this juncture, the management has the choice of either accepting the rating or not accepting the rating. If the management chooses not to accept the rating, CariCRIS does not disclose such ratings to any third party, as per its policy on disclosure of unaccepted ratings.
If the management accepts the rating, by signing a rating acceptance letter, CariCRIS disseminates such ratings by issuing a media release. The media release / rating rationale will also be available on the CariCRIS website. The accepted ratings can be withdrawn only after the rated instrument is fully redeemed / extinguished, as per CariCRIS’ stated policy on rating withdrawals.
All accepted ratings are kept under continuous surveillance throughout the life of the instrument, as per CariCRIS’ policy on review of ratings and any revision in such ratings (such as upgrade / downgrade / rating placed on rating watch, etc.) are swiftly disseminated through a media release, for the benefit of the investors.