Australian retail investors have been locked out of obtaining credit ratings from the world’s three big rating agencies. All have new licences to rate products for Australian wholesale clients but have baulked at entering the retail market.
Although Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investor Services and Fitch Ratings have wholesale credit-rating licences effective on January 1 when new regulations came into force, they do not have licences for their ratings to be used by retail investors, Australian Securities and Investments Commission records confirm.