ASIAN banks, long eclipsed in the international market because of their poor disclosure and limited business scope, have become the most coveted targets of the international credit-rating agencies.
The US-based Thomson BankWatch's recent acquisition of the local Capital Information Services to form the largest bank credit-rating agency in the world is symptomatic of this trend.
Bank ratings in Asia have long been privileges for a few giant groups. While Hongkong Bank, Bank of China and Korea Development Bank catch all the attention, smaller ones have been left on the sidelines.
However, only weeks ago, the Hong Kong-based Chekiang First Bank obtained an issuer rating and a rating on its floating rate certificate of deposits from Thomson BankWatch. It marks the first time a small player in Asia with assets amounting to only HK$17.5 billion has received such international recognition.
Apart from Moody's and Standard & Poor's, which rate banks, sovereigns and corporates and their debt obligations, Thomson BankWatch and Europe-based IBCA are two agencies specialising in bank ratings.
However, all of them give ratings only to banks in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Banks in the emerging markets in Asia, the Middle East and South America are neglected.