The Capital Markets (Credit Rating Agencies) Regulations
2. Interpretation
2. Interpretation
In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—"client" means a person who engages the services of a credit rating agency for the purposes of a rating;"credit rating agency" means an entity which is in, or proposes to engage in, the business of rating of securities and issuers;"credit rating methodology" means the procedure by which a credit rating agency determines credit ratings including the information that must be considered or analysed to determine a credit rating and the analytical framework used to determine a credit rating including, as applicable, the models, financial metrics, assumptions, criteria or other qualitative or qualitative factors to be used to determine a credit rating;"day" means calendar day excluding Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays;"downgrade" means a negative change in the rating of a security or an issuer;"foreign applicant" means an entity that is incorporated or registered outside Kenya that seeks to be recognised in accordance with these Regulations;"issuer" means an entity by which a security has been issued, guaranteed or by which the credit underlying the security has otherwise been supported and includes the corporate parent or majority-owned subsidiary of an issuer;"private credit rating" means a credit rating that is not made public and is applicable to a private offer of a security;"public credit rating" means a credit rating on an issuer or a security offered to the public that is made public and subject to specific requirements set out in these Regulations;"rating" means an opinion regarding a security or an issuer expressed in the form of standard symbols or in any other standardised manner, assigned by a credit rating agency;"rating committee" means a committee constituted by a credit rating agency to assign a rating to a security; and"upgrade" means a positive change in the rating of a security or an issuer.Source: Kenya Law