New regional ratings agency created

The region's first full-service credit ratings agency has been set up by Amani Bouresli, a Kuwait University finance professor as an alternative to the big three agencies that dominate the Gulf, The National has reported. Capital Standards was incorporated and licensed last year in Kuwait and is preparing to assign its first ratings. A ratings scale ranging from "AAA" to "D" has been established, along with guidelines for gauging the risk that companies and governments will default on debt.