Banks require international rating agencies to return money – Kommersant

Banks and companies apply to the courts to recover money from the international rating agency Fitch for services not rendered. In particular, the claim against the branch of Fitch Ratings CIS Ltd. filed with the Russian Arbitration Court by MTS-Bank. At the end of 2022, Loko-Bank managed to win it. Familiarized with the materials from the court file Vedomosti.

The claim of MTS Bank to the Moscow Arbitration Court is related to Fitch’s failure to fulfill its obligations to assign ratings for 2022, a representative of the credit institution told Vedomosti. The bank requires the return of the advance paid for services that were not provided under the contract. It is noted that it was not possible to resolve the issue out of court. The representative of MTS Bank did not specify the amount of claims.

Loko-Bank filed a lawsuit with the Moscow Arbitration Court and demanded to reimburse about 2.6 million rubles. – part of the advance paid in 2021. In October 2021, the bank paid Fitch about RUB 4.5 million. for providing ratings until October 2022. In the spring of last year, the agency ceased its activities in Russia, and on April 1 notified Loko-Bank of the withdrawal of all previously provided ratings. Fitch refused to return money for services. In December 2022, the court satisfied the claims of Loko-Bank and ordered Fitch to return 2.6 million rubles.

After Loko-Bank’s claim against Fitch is satisfied, other organizations may also follow its example and declare their own requirements for rating agencies, Zoya Galeeva, managing partner of the Troubled Assets Center, told Vedomosti. In February of this year, the Second Generating Company of the Wholesale Electricity Market sent a claim to Fitch Ratings for the recovery of €29.5 thousand, and in March Russian Highways demanded to return a little more than 3 million rubles to it.

At the same time, Ms. Galeeva notes that banks that have fallen into a similar situation may refuse litigation due to reputational risks. According to her, some banks hope that in the future they will again have to cooperate with international rating agencies.

In March 2022, rating agencies Fitch, Moody’s And S&P suspended their activities in Russia amid the Russian military operation in Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions. They later withdrew all their credit ratings assigned to Russian companies. Russian Foreign Ministry declared, Western rating agencies are “extremely biased in their assessments.” Last July, Moscow began working on the creation of a “truly independent rating organization” along with other countries.

Milena Kostereva