“There is one other question, and this is the ‘National Rating Agency.’ I understand how difficult this task is, I mean that it needs to be a completely independent agency that would be used with trust by all the participants of the market, and this is the only way to build the activity of this rating agency,” Putin said at a meeting with Central Bank head Elvira Nabiullina.
The agency is expected to start operating in the fourth quarter of 2015 and to gradually enter foreign markets. According to Ekaterina Trofimova, a Gazprombank executive who leads the project, the collection of applications for the investors pool will begin next week, although a de-facto list has already been created.
The agency’s 3-billion-ruble ($51.3-million) registered capital will be equally distributed among investors, including banks, insurance and asset management companies, according to the Russian Central Bank.
In July, Trofimova stated that first ratings would be issued by the agency no earlier than in the second quarter of 2016.
