"In our opinion, the first ratings [will] appear … during the current year," Ovchinnikov told Sputnik. According to him, the project is in its final stage.
"[The information is] gathered, the headquarters in Hong Kong [is] [working] …, and accreditation with the local regulator is underway. Moreover, there are preliminary agreements [with] other local agencies and investment funds joining the project soon," Ovchinnikov said.
The RusRating analyst emphasized that the agency was created as a reaction to the bankruptcy of American investment funds with unreasonably high ratings.
"When the issue of creating an agency alternative to the "Big Three" [Standard & Poor's, Moody's, and Fitch Group] was raised, we in fact offered [a] project that was ready to be launched and was supported by the governments of Russia and China," Ovchinnikov said.
UCRG was officially created in June 2013 as a partnership between the Chinese Dagong, the Russian RusRating and the American Egan-Jones ratings agencies. According to Ovchinnikov, new members will also be engaged in the partnership in the future.
