02 Feb China fines S&P Global Ratings US$297,000 for business violations
China’s central bank said on Friday it had fined six credit ratings firms, including the China unit of S&P Global Ratings for violating rules.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) issued a warning to S&P, together with a 2.12 million yuan (US$297,000) fine for alleged violations including “failure to carry out credit rating business in accordance with the legitimate procedures and rules” and “failure to send reports to the credit rating authority or its dispatching agencies”, according to a notice on the PBOC website.
A former S&P executive, surnamed Eastham and who was in charge of its rating analysis in China, was also fined 30,000 yuan.
“S&P Global (China) Ratings has received the notice from the People’s Bank of China,” the agency said in an emailed response. “We take this matter very seriously and have taken necessary actions to address the issues identified.”
The other firms targeted in the disciplinary move were Fareast Credit, China Lianhe Credit Rating, CSCI Pengyuan, Shanghai Brilliance Credit Rating & Investors Services and China Chengxin International Credit Rating (CCXI), all domestic firms. They were slapped with bigger fines, ranging from 3.9 million yuan to 7.69 million yuan, according to the PBOC.
The alleged violations included “breach of independence requests”, “failure to disclose information as requested or publish false information” and “violation of credit rating professional management requirements”.
All the punishments were imposed in November and made public on Friday, the statement said.
