Financial Rating Considering Economical Crisis

Rating is a mark given by a rating agency to the debt of a banking company according to its capability to honour on due term the financial obligations resulting from this debt. The use of ratings is encouraged by the new banking prudential regulations issued on international market (Basel II Agreement) and introduced also in Romania by National Bank; these regulations define the methods to determine bank solvency calculation based on ratings held by banks’ customers. In 2009 the European Parliament approved a new regulation for the financial rating agencies and it comes into force in all the countries which are members of the European Union (EU). According to the new regulation, the rating agencies will have to meet the strict integrity, quality and transparency standards and they will be constantly supervised by public authorities. Rating agencies provide independent opinions owith regard to the salvency of a company, govern or of different financial instruments which are used by investors, creditors, issuers and governs playing an important role on the financial market. Current financial crisis proved that there were some major weaknesses in terms of methods and models used by rating agencies. It seems that rating became a necessity in the current financial world and also Romania should be in line with this trend.