The Joint Forum, a group of senior financial sector supervisors from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the International Organization of Securities Commissions, and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), has released the final version of its paper titled Stocktaking on the Use of Credit Ratings (paper). The paper was developed in response to a request from the Financial Stability Forum (FSF) for the Joint Forum to conduct a stocktake of the uses of external credit ratings by its member regulatory authorities in the banking, securities and insurance sectors.

The report found that credit ratings are generally used in member jurisdictions for five key purposes: determining capital requirements, identifying or classifying assets, providing a credible evaluation of the credit risk associated with assets purchased as part of a securitisation offering or a covered bond offering, determining disclosure requirements and establishing prospectus eligibility.