KBRA is pleased to announce it was named The Asset Triple A Rating Agency of the Year for 2022 in two categories. KBRA won the Asset-Backed Securities Rating Agency of the Year and the ESG Rating Agency of the Year in the Americas by The Asset, a leading Asian financial market publication. The Asset’s Triple A Rating Agency of the Year awards highlight the strength of credit rating agencies operating in the region in providing both investors and issuers with fundamental parameters regarding the creditworthiness of corporates, financial institutions, and sovereigns.

Criteria for the awards included transparency of ratings methodology, timeliness of rating actions, default and stability rates, surveillance process, and investor outreach.

Established in 2010, KBRA remains dedicated to the restoration of trust in credit ratings by creating new standards for assessing risk and by offering timely and transparent ratings.

The Asset highlighted KBRA’s strengths as follows as rationale for the awards:

ABS

“KBRA has built up a strong ABS rating presence, not only in traditional segments such as RMBS, CMBS and auto loans, but also in more esoteric asset classes such as aircraft lease and railcar securitizations, as well as residential solar backed loans.

Residential solar loan transactions have become a fast-growing sector of the U.S. securitization market, and deals rated include the Sunnova Helios transaction for Houston-based Sunnova Energy and Mosaic Solar Loan Trust from California-based specialty finance company Solar Mosaic.

KBRA has long been at the forefront of rating aircraft deals, and has published thematic research keeping investors up to date in a fast-moving environment. Given the global composition of aircraft lease portfolios, this requires coverage of regional market trends, and recent thematic reports include the prospects for growth in the Latin American market.”

ESG

“The agency’s approach to incorporating ESG factors into credit ratings is different from that of its competitors. And given current signs of a backlash against the ESG investing movement, and claims that it has become politicized or facilitates greenwashing, the agency is stepping up its push to have better industry clarification on what is meant by financial risk versus non-financial impact in the analysis of ESG issues.

KBRA argues that ESG factors require more nuanced analysis to determine and understand financial materiality. It focuses on ESG issues strictly in the context of how these factors are currently affecting the risk of default, or how they may affect the risk of default over the longer term. And it centres its approach around three anchor ESG topics – climate change with particular focus on greenhouse gas emissions, stakeholder and reputational risk, and cybersecurity – while including commentary on any ESG factor that does or has the potential to impact the risk of default.”

Access our ABS ratings here and learn about our ESG approach here. Read The Asset’s full article on the awards here.

About KBRA

KBRA is a full-service credit rating agency registered in the U.S., the EU, and the UK, and is designated to provide structured finance ratings in Canada. KBRA’s ratings can be used by investors for regulatory capital purposes in multiple jurisdictions.

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