A follow-up to LeapRate’s story about South Africa’s Financial Services Board (FSB) deregistering Fitch as a credit rating agency…
The Registrar of Credit Rating Agencies at the FSB announced on Wednesday that it has granted Fitch Ratings Limited (Fitch) a two year exemption from registration under the Credit Rating Services Act. The exemption concerns the provision of Sovereign Ratings to the Republic of South Africa and ratings for State owned Companies.
The exemption is valid until December 31, 2017.
The National Treasury, in its capacity as the fiscal authority, issues sovereign debt on an annual basis and when combined with redemptions nominal gross debt is projected to grow in 2017/18. With this taken into account, the exemption will allow Fitch to keep up with the provision of Sovereign Ratings for South Africa.
The regulator believes that the move will also benefit South Africa’s investors.
To view the announcement from the Financial Services Board on the regulatory status of Fitch, click here.