NEW DELHI: The securities and alternate board of India (SEBI) up to date guidelines for credit rating agencies (CRAs) by introducing “working days” as the usual for compliance deadlines, changing the earlier use of “days.”
The modifications, introduced in a round on Tuesday, goal to standardise rating processes and publication protocols.
These updates adopted suggestions from a working group on CRAs, highlighting the difficulties posed by calendar-based timelines, notably throughout non-working days.
“One of the recommendations of the Working Group of CRAs for ease of doing business pertains to modification of approach on specifying timelines from ‘days’ to ‘working days’ in respect of certain requirements,” the market regulator acknowledged in its round.
Changes underneath the revised guidelines:
- Press releases on rating actions
CRAs should now publish press releases on rating actions inside seven working days of the related occasion, changing the sooner requirement of seven calendar days. - Delays in debt servicing
The timeline for reviewing rankings in instances of delays in debt servicing has been adjusted to two working days from the earlier two calendar days. - ‘Issuer not cooperating’ tag
In case an issuer fails to submit a no-default assertion (NDS) for three consecutive months, CRAs should now tag the rankings as “issuer not cooperating” inside 5 working days, shortened from seven calendar days. Earlier, this period was seven calendar days. - Debt servicing affirmation
For debt servicing affirmation, if no response is acquired inside one working day after the due date, CRAs should promptly observe up and challenge a press launch inside a stricter timeline of two working days.
The regulator emphasised that these modifications are efficient instantly and are supposed to deal with operational inefficiencies for credit rating agencies.
