What do country ratings mean and why are they needed. Caution: rating! Why ratings cannot be trusted and what to pay attention to Why rating agencies are needed

It is almost impossible to imagine today's financial market without ratings. And there are several reasons, both fundamental and those that relate to the requirements of the global practice of financial risk management. Moreover, they are interconnected, because the second is actually a derivative of the first, and vice versa. Consider why this is so.

The financial market is such a system of relations in which financial intermediaries will always be present, and they will always determine the scenario for the development of this market. In turn, the high efficiency of the tools that the financial intermediary system uses is the basis economic growth and development. One such tool is rating. Today, all countries with a market development model have one thing in common: financial market participants have a significant amount of assets in their hands. Accordingly, there is a problem of determining the quality of these assets. It is this function that the rating agency takes on when deciding whether to assign a rating.

But assessing the quality of assets is not the initial reason, the need for it arises in connection with the presence of a risk factor. Freedom to choose market economy must be supported by confidence in the reliability of the partner. In order to make a decision, internal evaluations are not enough, and independent expert evaluations are often necessary. Therefore, in the world practice of regulating financial risks, a rating system has been developed. And today it is successfully used by financial market participants.

It is also worth noting that in the system of relations of financial market participants there is no alternative institution that could most effectively deal with the independent identification of risks, except as a rating agency. It must be emphasized that it is primarily a matter of identification, not elimination, because other institutions (insurance companies, export credit agencies, etc.) take on the last function. Ignoring the needs in the development of the rating services market will lead to a lag in the development and regulation of the banking sector, the system of trade finance, insurance and stock markets. Therefore, there is no need to invent something new when the entire world community develops its markets in the rating channel.

Using rating services is very convenient. Rating indicators in a compact and capacious form characterize the state and future trends of changes in the degree of creditworthiness of the borrower, or the investment attractiveness of a particular project. Thus, they play the role of indicators for decision making, establishing and maintaining business relationship.

The current rating level and the dynamics of its changes serve as signals for maintaining, expanding or curtailing cooperation. Thus, assigning a rating, the agency simultaneously creates a portrait of the subject of rating, written by an independent and objective observer.

A credit rating can also talk about the quality of a credit instrument, for example, a company’s bonds, or other debt document. In general, the presence of a credit rating distinguishes a number of advantages for the enterprise, among which the following can be noted:

obtaining a bank loan and other borrowed funds;
obtaining a commodity loan with a deferred payment;
other types of raising capital;
non-payment risk insurance and other types of insurance;
adjustment of actions regarding the borrower;
maintaining and maintaining trade relations;
search for new partners abroad and / or in Ukraine;
counterparty verification in order to establish / expand cooperation;
improving the financial reputation of the company as a bona fide borrower;

The rating of investment attractiveness of a project / company is an assessment of the level of satisfaction of financial, production, organizational, marketing, legal and other requirements or interests of an investor with respect to a specific business project or enterprise.

This type of rating allows you to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of a particular investment project as well as the favorable investment climate in a particular region or industry. As in the case of a credit rating, the application of the investment attractiveness rating of a project / company also goes far beyond its name. Its presence provides several advantages:

obtaining financing for an investment project;
obtaining a loan;
other types of attracting investments;
adjustment of actions regarding the investee;
maintaining and maintaining business ties;
search for new investment objects abroad and / or in Ukraine;
verification of investment attractiveness of companies and projects in Ukraine;
improving the reputation of the enterprise as a generator of profitable and recouped investment projects;
effective PR tool at the international level and in Ukraine.

Thus, the credit rating and investment attractiveness rating assigned by the Agency have a wide range of applications and are an aggregate indicator designed to reflect the quality of work of the company or project managers based on the maximum amount of information.

The Agency offers the following line of information products that display the named ratings and aimed at achieving specific results for the development of any business:

Status Credit Report ;
Status Credit Rating Report;
Investment Attractiveness Report.

IN Russian Federationas in other countries of the former Soviet Unioninsurance are ambiguous. Why it happened is unclear. Perhaps, due to the mentality of the Slavs, who always hope for the best and are afraid to make any troubles in advance.

In most countries of Europe, the United States of America and others, the issue of the need for insurance is treated very differently. In this world, it has long been understood that whether we like it or not, there is always the possibility of an accident, illness, and sometimes it is better to reinsure yourself and your loved ones than to get into a difficult financial situation later.

They also say that weak insurance companies operate on the market in the Russian Federation, whose reliability rating leaves much to be desired. Whether this is so or not, we will analyze further in the article.

What types of insurance are there?

There are many types of insurance. It can be divided into personal and property. The first group includes such services that are related to the health of the person himself: life insurance, health insurance, accident insurance, medical and others. The second group includes all those services that are related to the property interests of people: real estate, car insurance, purchases, and others.

There are insurance services that are provided. legal entities: insurance of transactions, products, sales and many others.

If a person decided to insure himself, then he is faced with the problem of choosing an insurance company that could satisfy his needs and provide the necessary services.

Why do we need a rating of insurance companies?

The market is filled with various companies that provide insurance services, and sometimes it is difficult to choose which one is better. For example, a lot of money is spent on rating self-promotion; due to this, it improves due to an increase in customer flow. But will it be a full reflection of the real level of reliability of the insurer?

In the insurance business, perhaps, there is nothing more important for the insurer than the highest reputation in the market of provided services. If the company is not at the hearing, then only old customers who are more or less loyal to it will use its services.

The level of service plays an important role

In addition, positive feedback from people is very important. Psychologists often say that a satisfied client will recommend the company to 2-3 friends, and a dissatisfied one will tell 10 people or more about the poor organization that served him. So the question is good service all insurers should stay at the best level.

There are many more criteria that are important for the successful functioning of the insurance company in the market for the provision of insurance services for various risks.

In order to understand which of the insurers is the market leader and who is not a loser, it is compiled a rating of insurance services companies.

What criteria are given more attention in the assessment?

To find out the best rating you need to make it carefully, taking into account all the possible indicators. They should show the level of solvency of the insurance company, the stability of its business relations, the presence of debt obligations.

In addition, it is necessary to understand the level of insurance payments, the structure of the client portfolio, as well as others financial indicatorsto help see the level of stability and financial condition of the insurance company.

Indicators of external stability.
Insurance portfolio.
Financial performance.

Consider each group of such indicators.

Indicators of external stability

Analyzing indicators of external stability, take into account the movement of assets, their structure and dynamics. In addition, the quantity share capitalas well as the total amount of the insurance premium.

Of no less importance will be an analysis of what associations the company is in, which has a market position, its relationship with state control bodies and the competence of management personnel.

Analyzing these indicators, it is necessary to take into account the management structure of the insurer, as well as its financial capabilities.

Considering external sustainability, conclusions are drawn for each regional branch of the insurance company: its profit and loss, position in the local insurance services market. Moreover, the rating of insurance companies in Moscow may differ significantly from the positions held by companies in other regions. Indeed, each city has its own income level, which is expressed by the level of solvency.

Insurance portfolio

Studying you need to understand the structure of the insurance company. It is necessary to determine how profitable each type of insurance is and the total amount of possible risks.

The data obtained are compared with the analyzed quantity, structure and dynamics of the client portfolio. It examines how beneficial the current insurance company is to the insurance company, what level of working volume the permanent insurers create, and how quickly new insurance contracts appear.

The policy pursued by the insurance company as part of reinsurance is also important. Are serious risks guaranteed that could lead to a high level of insurance benefits? The maximum level of insurance payments is compared with the total amount of own funds.

Financial performance

Financial indicators are divided into three groups.

1. Liquidity and solvency ratios.

An analysis of different degrees of liquidity of the company shows how quickly it can pay off its debts if at some point all creditors demand a return on their investments. Solvency indicators show the need of the insurance company to attract additional funds from the outside.

In addition, the structure of accounts payable is analyzed, which makes it possible to understand the reasons for its occurrence and the terms that are necessary for full repayment. It also calculates the solvency brand and the adequacy ratio of own funds.

2. Profitability and loss ratio.

Profitability ratios help determine the level of profit of a company for one service provided. The calculation of loss ratios allows you to assess the level of expenses that the insurer spends on its activities. The analysis of the adequacy of the income that the insurance company receives for insurance payments, as well as coverage of their own current expenses business management.

3. Indicators of investment policy.

Using appropriate indicators, the development of the insurance company, the return on investment are evaluated, and the impact of those areas of activity in which optimization is carried out is analyzed.

You can not focus only on public opinion

The rating of insurance companies is the result of a complex calculation, which includes almost all the indicators that you can think of to evaluate an insurance company. Such analyzes should only be carried out by experts.

A survey of people about their opinion about the services of a particular insurance company is only a partial element of a long and laborious processwhich must be performed to create a truly objective rating.

You need to understand that during the survey, the human factor has a significant impact on the results. People tend to be influenced by advertising, imposed opinions. That is, analyzing insurance companies, a national rating should not be perceived as the only true one.

An insurance company may not be the best, but thanks to newspapers, magazines, television and other marketing techniques, the population may have a false opinion about its reliability.

Before any conclusions, it is necessary to correctly analyze all insurance companies. Reliability rating, based on the correct indicators, is able to correctly identify market leaders.

Consider how the insurance companies finished last year and who was in the TOP.

Rating of insurance companies according to the results of 2014

After analyzing the results that insurance companies showed in 2014, we can conclude that last year became difficult for the entire insurance services market. There were no various surprises in earned income, a sharp change in position compared to 2013 ratings.

If we compare the amount of received insurance premiums (money paid by the insured), then three leaders who demonstrate the best results for russian market, remained on the podium.

The first place went to the insurance company Rosgosstrakh, which received 105.2 billion rubles. The second is SOGAZ with an income of 105.2 billion rubles, while Ingosstrakh, which managed to collect insurance premiums in the amount of 65.8 billion rubles, is confidently in third place.

If we analyze the structure of their income, we can conclude that the largest amount of funds came from the conclusion of contracts for voluntary property insurance.

In terms of payments, which is one of the most important indicators for insurance companies, the three leaders remained the same. In the first place in terms of payments is the insurance company Rosgosstrakh, which carried out compensation for damages totaling 55.1 billion rubles. In the second and third place, respectively, Ingosstrakh and SOGAZ.

If we consider the volume of payments in relation to the insurance premium received, then in the first place will be IC "Alliance", "Ingosstrakh", as well as IC "Consent".

In 2014, the insurance company Rosgosstrakh leads in the number of contracts concluded. No less, she managed to conclude them in the amount of 34.5 million units. In second place is Alfa Insurance, which concluded 11.8 million contracts. The third place was taken by the insurance company RESO-Garantia, which concluded more than 8.4 million contracts.

What is in 2015 now and what are the forecasts?

Experts note a significant decrease in customer activity. This situation is associated with worsening economic performance and a drop in GDP. Indeed, the depreciation of the ruble significantly hit the pocket of both an ordinary resident and various business structureshaving the need to supply products from abroad.

According to forecasts, only two types of insurance services will be able to maintain the rating of insurance companies in 2015: life and compulsory motor liability insurance.

Many believe that the market will narrow, and more large companies ready to literally have breakfast by small companies that provide insurance services. That is, there is a tendency to enlarge the market due to the takeover of companies.

This, for example, is evidenced by such type of insurance as CTP. The rating of the Rosgosstrakh insurance company for the first half of the year in this type of insurance services increased compared to the same period of 2014. If last year the share of this company in the mandatory driver was 29.5%, now it exceeds 36%.

And if you analyze the increase in fees for the company IC "RESO-Garantia" also improved. So, in 2015, she managed to increase the total amount of fees by 48.5%.

In 2015, the market tends to enlarge

According to the results of the first half of the year, the total market share of insurance companies, which are in the top ten, increased to 77%, which also speaks of the enlargement of the market.

If you want to understand whether to work with a particular insurer, it is best to find out its rating. Insurance companies St. Petersburg or the capitals may have different amounts of premiums collected due to the different regional situation, which determines the overall level of customer flow. At the same time, a correctly compiled analysis will help to take this circumstance into account and understand which insurance company is right for you.

In April 2012, a new and very important project for the Russian economy was launched - RosFirm.Rating. The main goals that we pursued with the introduction of this rating were to increase the reliability of data on enterprises and highlight reliable companies, give them more official status, isolate the most stable companies on the market and reduce the likelihood of fraud during transactions.

Freedom of choice in a market economy should be supported by confidence in the reliability of a partner. In order to make a decision, internal evaluations are not enough, and independent expert evaluations are often necessary. Such a role in modern society plays, in particular, the rating system.

WHY DO IT NEED COMPANIES?

There are several more positive aspects: the higher the rating, the higher the place where the company and its products or services are displayed upon user requests on the Internet - on the rosfirm.ru portal. And this leads to an increase in customer base.

Providing documents on the activities of the company (registration documents, balances).

Membership in industrial unions and associations, membership in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Availability and indication of confirmed contractual relationships with their customers.

Each company has a personal certificate with the rating, date of issue and an active QR code - a link by which you can verify this certificate. The certificate is issued by the Certification Authority and sent to the company by courier service.

Mini certificates can always be printed out from the personal account of the organization, or downloaded as a picture to be inserted into the desired document.

HOW TO TAKE PART IN THE PROGRAM?

It is very easy! You need:

18.12

A credit rating is a special assessment of an issuer, a private individual or a commercial organization for its ability to fulfill financial obligations to creditors within a strictly specified and predetermined period. Every modern company is interested in what a credit rating is, who draws it up, and what criteria of organizations are considered and evaluated.

They are necessary for people or companies engaged in investment activities, so that they can determine whether the purchase of certain securities is profitable and optimal. It is important that the company issuing them, at any time, be able to answer for its obligations and pay funds for securities. It is necessary that interest and dividends, debts and other counterparty obligations are paid regularly and in accordance with certain conditions.

Credit ratings are an effective tool used by an investor to assess the possibility of investing in the securities of a particular company. Moreover, the possibility of returning money spent on purchases is assessed. Ratings can act as a reliable and popular indicator of investment risk. They affect the choice of interest rates, the value of debt instruments, as well as their yield.

In the process of calculating any rating, the financial history of a particular market participant is checked, not only the current, but also the past, in order to identify any violations or problems in paying debts in the process of functioning of a particular organization. The size of own funds and borrowed funds in the capital is calculated.

If the credit rating of an entire country is calculated, then the size and level of public debt, the presence and level of corruption, the characteristics of changes in inflation, the internal political situation and other important factors are taken into account. As for the credit rating of private individuals, everything is simple: banks need such data to determine whether a potential client will be able to repay the loan issued to him or if he may have some difficulties with this.

Which companies are assigned ratings?

After the assessment, each bank, non-banking financial institution, firm or even government and countries is assigned a specific rating. The most famous rating agencies are: Moody’s, Rus-Rating, Expert RA, Fitch. The largest are foreign organizations.

What designations apply?

Since the purpose of the assessment is to assign a certain rating, special designations are used, thanks to which each organization and even an individual can understand how solvent or responsible an institution or country is. Each agency can use its own designations, however, there are certain signs that are generally accepted.

The main designations include:

Thus, due to the availability of credit ratings, each investor, before investing a certain amount of money, will be able to determine how reliable or solvent a company or even a country is.

Other areas of work of agencies

These organizations not only specialize in assigning ratings to different companies or countries, but also make forecasts in relation to them, and they can be different. For example:

Additionally, credit agencies conduct research on financial markets, analyze their condition, and also provide consulting services to different companies, allowing them to increase their rating. Specialized trainings are held related to the creditworthiness of firms, as well as to the management and analysis of corporate finance.

What is the rating of Russia?

Moody’s assigned the Russian Federation a Baa rating, which means that the country's debt obligations have moderate risk.

Liabilities belong to the middle category, and there is a high probability that speculative parameters will arise in their relation.

The indicators associated with the fight against inflation in the country are strong and reliable, but due to the extremely high level of corruption, the country is not attractive to foreign investors. They are further repelled by the fact that the entire economy is aimed at the raw material field.

Other rating features

Both for long-term obligations and for short-term ones. They can be assigned to companies and countries, as well as loans, preferred shares and other securities. Long-term ratings are the most reliable and accurate, since when compiling them, the investment environment available in a particular country is evaluated. The ability of an entity to fulfill its debt obligations is also taken into account.

Different companies are valued both in national currency and in foreign. This is necessary in order to determine the attractiveness of the company not only for domestic investors, but also for foreign ones. It is most easy and simple for companies to pay debts represented in local currency. But with debt obligations in foreign currency, difficulties may arise.

Features of a sovereign credit rating

Credit ratings are assigned not only to obligations and companies, but also to entire countries. They are called sovereign, and show what the state’s ability to provide a safe, reliable and attractive investment environment for.

transparency of capitals of different entities;
the level of investment flows of the state and individual companies and individuals;
volume of investments from foreign countries;
the presence and size of gold and foreign exchange reserves;
stability of a leading political party;
indicator of economic sustainability.

The higher the country's rating, the more attractive it becomes for foreign investors. There are states to which no rating is assigned at all, and they are considered unattractive for investment. Therefore, each country seeks to improve its performance.

What factors are taken into account when analyzing a rating for a company or an individual?

The rating agency or the internal analytics department of the company conducts the analysis. For this, information is used, obtained not only from the client himself, but also from various reliable sources, which must be reliable. If creditworthiness changes, then the information that is used to establish a credit rating is considered to be invalid. The rating also changes if the borrower refuses to provide the necessary information.

The following critical factors are used in the analysis process:

Credit scoring - assigning a rating to a private individual

Almost every person at a certain point in time wants to get a loan, but not all potential borrowers receive approval from the bank to complete this procedure. This is due to the fact that each of them presents certain requirements to customers, therefore, a scoring procedure is carried out. It consists in assigning a rating to a particular individual acting as a potential borrower.

Scoring involves the distribution of all potential customers of the bank into separate groups, for which different static data about them is used. It can be applied not only in the banking sector, but also in some other areas. The most popular is credit scoring. With its help, automatic processing of information about a particular borrower is provided. These data are entered into a special program, which leads to a specific assessment assigned to the client.

The process itself assumes that the borrower, when drawing up an application for a loan, fills out a special form presented in the form of a test. Each answer is assigned a certain number of points in accordance with possible risk bank. The decision by the bank depends on the result:

if the result is high, then usually the bank makes a positive decision regarding the issuance of a loan;
if an average value is obtained, then an additional investigation is carried out by the bank’s security department to make sure that it is advisable to issue borrowed money to a specific client;
if low scores are obtained, the bank makes a negative decision, therefore, money is not issued to the borrower, however, a small amount at a high interest rate is allowed.

The use of a scoring program is considered convenient for any bank, as this allows you to quickly make a decision on the issuance of loans. However, if a mortgage or car loan is issued, then scoring alone will not be enough, since it is important to conduct a thorough check of borrowers by employees of the bank's security system.

The advantages of using scoring include the fact that the influence of the human factor on decision-making regarding the issuance of a loan is completely excluded. The program is automatically engaged in data verification, so if a bank employee does not like it appearance potential borrower, this will not be able to influence the decision to grant him a loan. The information entered into the program must be reliable and reliable, therefore only official documents submitted by the citizen are used.

Types of Bank Credit Rating for Borrowers

The main types of credit scoring include:

Thus, credit ratings are the most important indicators of countries, different enterprises and even individuals. They are awarded not only by specialized rating agencies, but also by various companies operating in the country's market, as well as by the banks themselves, which analyze their potential borrowers.

In the process of assigning a rating, numerous indicators are taken into account. The rating may change, and not only in the positive, but also in the negative direction. This indicator is considered important for investors who plan to invest free cash to foreign countries or any large companies, as well as for banks planning to grant a loan to a particular person.

You must admit that almost everyone has a desire to be better than others, and even more so when your reputation and the number of customers depend on it. Therefore, it is natural that companies in the Forex market compete among themselves, trying to get to the very top line of the rating.

The rating of forex companies is a list that lists brokers from the most popular and reputable to the least known and in demand. Typically, the principle of rating is as follows: the company nominates itself, and then the broker is evaluated in two directions at once. Customers (or potential customers) vote for him, as well as forex market professionals examine his work and give their expert opinion. Thanks to these estimates, the broker takes one or another place in the ranking.

Of course, rating is more than once and for all. After certain periods of time (for example, after a year), the ratings are updated, and if during this time the company managed to maintain its level of quality of services or improve them, then it has a chance to remain in a high position. And if not, then there will always be those companies that have shown progress over the year and can now take the lead.

You can also influence the place of the company in the ranking. For example, if you are already a client of a broker, you can go to the rating website (for example, the IAFT has such a rating), register and vote for your company if you think it is worth it. You can vote only once so that there is no artificial “wrapping” of votes. After all, the rating is just needed so that traders can see the most objective assessment of companies.

By the way, the IAFT rating is very convenient to use. For example, in addition to the general rating, you can choose a rating for certain parameters (for example, only by voting or by the amount of client payments, by the level of trust in the company or by the number of accounts opened in it). Thus, you can find the best company among those that you like and are suitable for certain criteria.

However, do not rush to choose for cooperation only that company which takes the first or second place in the general rating. After all, it also happens that a company that is a couple of steps lower will be the most suitable and convenient for you due to its conditions. However, one should not choose a broker in the “tail” either: if the company has not shown itself in anything and has not earned the love of customers and the respect of experts, then most likely you should look for a better option. After all, a broker is your partner, who must be reliable, efficient and worthy of trust.

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