Moody's Applies SQ Ratings in Russia

Moody's Investors Service has applied its "servicer quality national scale ratings" (tailored for primary servicers in local markets) to Russian servicers for the first time. Moody's rolled out servicer quality ratings in 2001 and has been offering them in parts of the "Europe, Middle East and Africa" region since 2003, but SQ NSRs are not comparable to other SQ ratings, according to Carine Kumps-Feniou, a Moody's assistant vice president-analyst. The SQ NSRs "reflect the financial stability of the servicer based on a national scale credit rating instead of a global scale credit rating" and are designed to "allow many market participants to further benchmark national servicers against each other domestically," Moody's said. The SQ NSRs apply to servicers of both residential mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities deals. The rating agency can be found online at http://www.moodys.com.