Russian rating agency ready by year end – Vnesheconombank

Russian rating agency: Russia will have its own national rating agency up and running by the end of the year along with its Mir national payment system, a senior Vnesheconombank  executive told TASS yesterday.
The decision to establish a new rating agency has been triggered by the conviction in Moscow that many of the Western incumbents are making politically motivated judgements, the bank’s  Director of the Department for Strategic Analysis and Developments at Vladimir Andrianov, said. “Overall, there are a total of 179 international rating agencies in the world. The world’s three leading agencies — Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch, the so-called Big Three — service 96% of the market of rating services and are the institutes of US financial policy. Financiers believe these agencies are controlled by Rothschild Group.
“During the global financial and economic crisis, these agencies tarnished their reputation and even the US Department of Justice opened a criminal probe against Standard & Poor’s into the overstated quality of mortgage securities it rated, which was one of the causes for the crisis. The Europeans also express doubts over the objectivity of these agencies,” the expert said.
“Early this year, Moody’s downgraded Russia’s sovereign rating to the speculative grade, which was a 100% politicized action because the solvency of Russia with its considerable gold and foreign currency reserves causes no doubts. Russia’s budget deficit equals just 2-3% [of GDP], its trade balance has a surplus and there are no threats to the country’s financial state,” he added.