What do the country ratings mean and what they are for. Caution: rating! Why you can't trust ratings and what to look for What rating agencies are needed for

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

The financial market is 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 instruments used by the system of financial intermediaries is the basis economic growth and development. One of these tools is rating. Today, all countries with a market model of development have a common feature: 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 undertakes when deciding on the assignment of a particular rating.

But asset quality assessment is not the primary reason, the need for it arises in connection with the presence of a risk factor. Freedom of choice in market economy must be supported by confidence in the reliability of the partner. To make a decision, internal assessments are not enough, and an assessment of independent experts is 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 between financial market participants, there is no alternative institution that could most effectively engage in independent identification of risks, except as a rating agency. It should be emphasized that this is primarily about identification, not elimination, because the latter function is assumed by other institutions (insurance companies, export credit agencies, etc.). Ignoring the needs for the development of the rating services market will lead to a lag in the development and regulation of the banking sector, the trade finance system, 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. The rating indicators in a compact and capacious form characterize the state and future trends of changes in the degree of the borrower's creditworthiness, 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 change serve as signals for maintaining, expanding or curtailing cooperation. Thus, by assigning a rating, the agency simultaneously creates a portrait of the subject of the rating, written by an independent and objective observer.

A credit rating can also indicate the quality of the lending instrument, such as a company bond or other debt document. In general, the presence of a credit rating provides a number of advantages for the company, among which the following can be noted:

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

The rating of the 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 in relation to a specific business project or enterprise.

This type of rating allows you to assess 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 use of a rating for the investment attractiveness of a project / company also goes far beyond the scope of its name. Its presence gives a number of advantages:

obtaining financing for an investment project;
obtaining a loan;
other types of investment attraction;
correction of actions in relation to the subject of investment;
maintaining and maintaining business ties;
search for new investment objects abroad and / or on the territory of Ukraine;
checking the investment attractiveness of companies and projects on the territory of Ukraine;
improving the reputation of the enterprise as a generator of profitable and payback investment projects;
an effective PR tool at the international level and in Ukraine.

Thus, the credit rating, as well as the rating of investment attractiveness, 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 most complete amount of information.

The agency offers the following line of information products displaying 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.

V Russian Federation, as in the rest of the countries of the former Soviet Union, insurance is controversial. Why it happened is not clear. Perhaps because of the mentality of the Slavs, who always hope for the best and are afraid to think of some trouble in advance.

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

They also say that weak insurance companies operate in the Russian market, the reliability rating of which leaves much to be desired. Whether this is so or not, we will analyze it 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, against accidents, medical and others. The second group includes all those services that are related to the property interests of people: real estate insurance, car insurance, purchases and others.

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

If a person decides to get insured, then he is faced with the problem of choosing an insurance company that would be able to meet his needs and provide the necessary services.

What is the rating of insurance companies for?

The market is full various companies who provide insurance services, and it is sometimes difficult to choose which one is better. For example, they spend a lot of money on self-advertising. The rating, thanks to this, improves by increasing the customer flow. But will this be a full-fledged display of the real level of the insurer's reliability?

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

Service level plays an important role

In addition, very important positive reviews of people. Psychologists often say that a satisfied client will recommend the company to 2-3 friends, and a dissatisfied client will tell 10 or more people about what bad organization served him. So the question is good service all insurers must be at their best.

There are many more criteria that are important for the successful operation of an insurance company in the market for providing insurance services for various risks.

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

What criteria are given more attention in the assessment?

To find out the best rating, you need to compile carefully, taking into account all 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, and other financial indicators that will help you see the level of resilience and financial condition insurance company.

Indicators of external sustainability.
Insurance portfolio.
Financial indicators.

Let's consider each group of such indicators.

External sustainability indicators

Analyzing indicators of external stability, take into account the movement of assets, their structure and dynamics. In addition, the value is taken into account authorized capital as well as the total amount of the insurance premium.

It will also be important to analyze what associations the company is in, what its position on the market, 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 the external stability, conclusions are drawn for each regional branch of the insurance company: its profit and loss, position in the local insurance market. Moreover, the rating of insurance companies in Moscow may differ significantly from the positions held by companies in other regions. After all, each city has its own level of income, 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 obtained data is compared with the quantity, structure and dynamics of the client portfolio. The article considers how profitable the current clients are to the insurance company, what level of working volume are created by permanent policyholders, and also how quickly new insurance contracts appear.

The policy pursued by the insurance company in the framework of reinsurance is also important. Are serious risks guaranteed, which can lead to a high level of insurance payments. 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. Indicators of liquidity and solvency.

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

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

2. Indicators of profitability and loss.

Return on assets indicators help to determine the level of the company's profit for one service provided. The calculation of loss ratios allows you to assess the level of expenses that the insurer spends on conducting its activities. An analysis is made of the sufficiency of the income that the insurance company receives for insurance payments, as well as to cover its own running costs business management.

3. Indicators of investment policy.

With the help of relevant indicators, the development of the insurance company, the return on investment is assessed, and the impact of those areas of activity in which optimization is carried out is analyzed.

You cannot be guided only by public opinion

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

Polling people about their opinion about the services of this or that insurance company is only a partial element of a long and time consuming process which must be completed to create a truly objective rating.

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

The 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 properly analyze all insurance companies. A reliability rating based on the correct metrics is able to correctly identify the market leaders.

Consider how insurance companies ended up last year and who ended up in the TOP.

Rating of insurance companies based on the results of 2014

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

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

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

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 the volume of payments, which is one of the most important indicators for insurance companies, the top three remained the same. In the first place in terms of payments is the insurance company Rosgosstrakh, which made compensation for damages in the total amount of 55.1 billion rubles. Ingosstrakh and SOGAZ are in second and third places, respectively.

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

In 2014, the Rosgosstrakh insurance company is the leader in terms of the number of contracts concluded. Neither more nor less, she managed to conclude them in the amount of 34.5 million units. In second place is AlfaStrakhovanie, which has signed 11.8 million contracts. The third place was taken by the RESO-Garantia insurance company, which concluded more than 8.4 million contracts.

What's in 2015 now and what are the forecasts?

Experts note a significant decrease in customer activity. They associate this situation with the deterioration of economic indicators and the fall in GDP. Indeed, the depreciation of the ruble has significantly hit the pocket of both an ordinary resident and various business structures having a need to supply products from abroad.

According to forecasts, only two types of insurance services will be able to support the rating of insurance companies in 2015: life and OSAGO.

Many believe that the market will shrink, and more large companies small firms that provide insurance services are literally ready to have breakfast. That is, there is a tendency for the market to grow larger due to the takeover of companies.

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

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

In 2015, the market tends to expand

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 market consolidation.

If you want to understand whether to cooperate with a certain insurer, it would be best to find out its rating. Insurance companies St. Petersburg or the capitals may have a different amount of collected premiums due to the different regional position, which determines the overall level of customer flow. At the same time, a well-written analysis will help to take into account this circumstance 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 when introducing this rating were to increase the reliability of data on enterprises and highlight reliable companies, give them a more official status, single out the most stable companies on the market and reduce the likelihood of fraud in transactions.

Freedom of choice in a market economy must be supported by confidence in the reliability of a partner. To make a decision, internal assessments are not enough, and an assessment of independent experts is often necessary. Such a role in modern society plays, in particular, the rating system.

WHY DO COMPANIES NEED IT?

There are a few more positive aspects: the higher the rating, the higher the place where the company and its products or services are shown when users request it on the Internet - on the rosfirm.ru portal. And this leads to an increase in the customer base.

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

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

The presence and indication of confirmed contractual relationships with their customers.

Each company has a personalized certificate indicating the rating, date of issue and an active QR code - a link by which this certificate can be verified. The certificate is issued by the Certification Center and sent to the address of the enterprise by courier service.

Mini certificates can always be printed from the organization's personal account, or downloaded as a drawing for insertion into the desired document.

HOW TO TAKE PART IN THE PROGRAM?

It's very easy! You need:

18.12

Credit rating represents special assessment issuer, private person or commercial organization on the ability to fulfill financial obligations to creditors within a strictly established and pre-agreed period. Every modern company is interested in what a credit rating is, by whom it is drawn up, as well as what criteria of organizations are considered and evaluated.

They are necessary for people or companies involved in investment activities so that they can determine whether the purchase of certain valuable papers profitable and optimal. It is important that the company that issued them can at any time be able to meet its obligations and pay funds for the 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 effective tool used by an investor to assess the possibility of investing in securities of a particular company. Moreover, the possibility of returning the money spent on purchases is assessed. Ratings can act as a reliable and popular indicator of investment risk. They influence the choice of the interest rate, the cost of debt obligations, as well as their yield.

In the process of calculating any rating, the financial history of a particular market participant is certainly checked, not only the current one, but also the past one, in order to identify any irregularities or problems in the payment of debts in the course of the functioning of a particular organization. The size of own funds and borrowed funds in the capital of institutions 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 specifics of inflation changes, the internal political situation and others are taken into account. important factors... As for the credit rating of individuals, everything is simple here: banks need such data to determine whether a potential client will be able to repay the loan given to him or he may have certain difficulties with this.

What companies are involved in assigning ratings?

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

What designations are used?

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 and responsible an institution or country is. Each agency may apply 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 a particular company or even a country is reliable and solvent.

Other areas of agency work

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

Additionally, credit agencies conduct research financial markets, analyze their condition, and also provide various companies with consulting services that allow them to improve their rating. Specialized trainings are conducted related to the creditworthiness of firms, as well as to the management and analysis of corporate finance.

What is Russia's rating?

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

Liabilities belong to the middle category, and there is also a high probability of occurrence of speculative parameters in their relation.

The indicators related to the fight against inflation in the country are strong and reliable, however, due to the extremely high level of corruption, the country is not attractive to foreign investors. They are additionally repelled by the fact that the entire economy is focused on the raw materials sector.

Other features of the assignment of ratings

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 because they assess the investment environment in a particular country. It also takes into account the organization's ability to meet its debt obligations.

Valuation of different companies is carried out both in national currency and in foreign currency. This is necessary in order to determine the attractiveness of the company not only for domestic investors, but also for foreign ones. The easiest and simplest way for firms to pay off debts presented 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 liabilities and companies, but also to entire countries. They are called sovereign, and they show what are the possibilities of the state to ensure the creation of a safe, reliable and attractive investment environment.

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

The higher the rating of a country, the more attractive it becomes for foreign investors. There are states that have not been assigned any rating at all, and they are considered unattractive for investment. Therefore, each country strives to improve its performance.

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

The analysis is carried out by a rating agency or internal analytics department of the company. For this, information is used not only from the client himself, but also from various reliable sources, which must be reliable. If the creditworthiness changes, then the information that is used to establish the credit rating is no longer valid. The rating also changes in the event that the borrower himself refuses to provide the necessary information.

The following critical factors are used in the analysis process:

Credit scoring - assigning a rating to an 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 has certain requirements for customers, therefore, a scoring procedure is carried out. It consists in assigning a rating to a certain individual, acting as a potential borrower.

Scoring involves the distribution of all possible bank customers 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. Credit scoring is considered the most popular. With its help, automatic processing of information about a specific 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 questionnaire presented in the form of a test. For each answer, a certain number of points is assigned in accordance with possible risk jar. 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 the bank's security department conducts an additional investigation to make sure it is advisable to issue borrowed money to a specific client;
if low scores are obtained, then the bank makes a negative decision, therefore, the money is not issued to the borrower, however, it is allowed to provide a small amount at a high interest rate.

The use of a scoring program is considered convenient for any bank, since it allows you to quickly make a decision on the issuance of loans. However, if a mortgage or car loan is being 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 the decision to issue a loan is completely excluded. The program automatically checks the data, so if the bank employee does not like 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 a citizen are used.

Types of bank credit ratings for borrowers

The main types of credit scoring include:

Thus, credit ratings are critical indicators countries, various 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 can change, not only positively, but also negatively. 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 issue a loan to this or that person.

Agree, 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 also compete with each other, 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 demanded. Usually, the principle of compiling a rating is as follows: the company nominates itself, and then the broker is evaluated in two directions at once. Customers vote for it (or potential clients), as well as forex market professionals research its work and give their expert opinion. Thanks to these ratings, the broker takes one or another place in the rating.

Of course, the rating is not 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 has 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 in a year and can now get ahead.

You can also influence the place of the company in the ranking. For example, if you are already a client of this or that broker, you can go to the rating site (for example, there is such a rating in the IAFT), register and vote for your company if you think that it deserves it. You can vote only once, so that there is no artificial "cheat" of votes. After all, the rating is exactly what is needed so that traders can see the most objective assessment of companies.

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

However, do not rush to choose for cooperation only the company that takes the first or second place in the overall 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, you should not choose a broker in the "tail" either: if the company has not shown itself in any way and has not earned the love of clients 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 trustworthy.

It might be useful to read: