SPJIMR’s Centre for Financial Studies (CFS) hosted a Panel Discussion around the theme ‘Credit Rating: Challenging Times’ on June 8, 2019. Mr. Anjan Deb Ghosh, Chief Ratings Officer- ICRA, Ms. Bekxy Kuriakose, Head Fixed Income -Principal MF and Ms. Neeta Mukerji, Head of Credit -RBL Bank were part of the panel. The session was moderated by SPJIMR Executive in Residence, Mr. Harsh Vardhan and SPJIMR Advisor, Mr. Mohan Natarajan. The event was inaugurated by Head CFS, Prof. Neeraj Swaroop.
The Centre for Financial Studies (CFS) is a new Centre of Excellence at SPJIMR where Academia, Finance Professionals and Policymakers come together to share insights, collaborate and build resources for the industry. The objective of the program was to examine the role of credit rating in these volatile
times, when large groups find themselves on the brink of insolvency.
Some key points addressed during the discussion were:
- Credit rating – an art or a science.
- Perceived failures of rating agencies, particularly in recent times.
- How do banks view credit ratings?
- Have credit rating agencies turned trigger happy when it comes to downgrades?
- Are credit rating agencies getting sandwiched between opposing expectations of issuers and users?
- Should we move away to alternative models of credit rating like “user pay” model?
- Have investors lost confidence in fixed income mutual funds?
- Regulatory oversight on credit rating agencies.
- Should there be more competition in ratings?