Reasons for publication

On 19 March 2015, ESMA published its Guidelines on the periodic information to be submitted to ESMA by credit rating agencies. These Guidelines form the basis of ESMA’s supervisory activities by specifying the type of information ESMA needs to receive from CRAs in order to enable ESMA to carry out its supervisory tasks. After almost three years of experience implementing the current Guidelines, ESMA has identified a number of areas that need to be updated in order to ensure they are implemented by CRAs in a way that supports ESMA’s ongoing supervision. This includes improving the frequency and quality of the data submitted, as well as streamlining the means of providing it. This Consultation Paper is the first step towards publishing a revised version of the Guidelines. The main features of the proposed revised Guidelines involve the following proposals:

• Establishing reporting categorisations for CRAs;

• Establishing reporting calendars based on reporting categorisation;

• Standardising reporting templates;

• Providing additional reporting instructions in areas where ESMA has identified a supervisory need.

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