(January 31 – 17:00 ET) – Standard & Poor’s today introduced its new Canadian commercial paper ratings scale for application to Canadian-dollar CP programs active in the Canadian market.

The new scale combines the well-known thresholds and global recognition of Standard & Poor’s global CP ratings scale, while incorporating features of the established CP ratings scale employed by the Canadian Bond Rating Service prior to its amalgamation with Standard & Poor’s on October 31

The key feature of the Canadian CP ratings scale is greater credit quality differentiation in the mid-investment- grade range. The new scale incorporates a rating category of ‘A-1(low)’, bringing further differentiation to credits in the high triple-‘B’ to low single-‘A’ rating range on the long-term scale. The ‘A-1( low)’ category is a recognizable and important designation for the purposes of Canadian investors and issuers. The new scale is based on the same analytical principles and criteria as Standard & Poor’s global CP scale.

Standard & Poor’s says the use of the Canadian CP ratings scale provides the benefits of consistency with the global ratings universe of Standard & Poor’s, increased credit quality differentiation for the Canadian market, and conformity with established Canadian market conventions and investment criteria guidelines.

According to Standary & Poor’s work is underway to harmonize the outstanding long-term and short-term ratings assigned by CBRS with the ratings framework of Standard & Poor’s. As harmonized sector-by-sector issuer ratings are announced in the next few weeks, national scale CP ratings will be indicated. Harmonized long-term ratings have already been announced for a number of issuers; for these issuers, harmonized national scale CP ratings will be released as available.

Issuers rated historically by Standard & Poor’s but not by CBRS will have their Canadian CP program ratings restated onto the Canadian CP scale in the next few weeks. A current listing of Canadian CP ratings and ratings definitions are available from the Toronto Ratings Desk of Standard & Poor’s.
-IE Staff