General information

The Professional Association of Registrars, Transfer Agents and Depositories (PARTAD) possesses the largest experience of conducting national rating studies among Russian self-regulatory organizations.

Established in 1994 and currently uniting Russian infrastructural organizations (registrars, depositories, specialized depositories, and settlement/clearing organizations), PARTAD was the first self-regulatory organization uniting professional securities market participants to start regular registrar rating studies in 1997. Insfrastructural Institute (INFI), which is PARTAD association research and training subdivision, has regularly conducted national rating studies of Russian depositories since 2000 (and specialized depositories since 2003).

The findings of rating studies conducted by INFI together with PARTAD are presented as national ratings of Russian infrastructural organizations, calculated using original methods developed by INFI under the participation of PARTAD experts and Association member organization representatives. In addition to national ratings, rankings of infrastructural organizations are developed by a series of the most significant indicators characterizing the scale of their operations and financial stability.

Great attention is paid to performance quality and reliability as a foundation for the functioning of the Russian securities market in developing national ratings of Russian infrastructural organizations. PARTAD develops professional activity standards establishing improved requirements for technological development level and professional operations risk management as compared with normative requirements. Infrastructural organization's compliance with PARTAD standards and requirements for the software and electronic document circulation technologies used, risk management system, and professional operations insurance system are the most important qualitative indicators evaluated in developing national ratings of infrastructural organizations.

The information field is created for rating studies using information submitted by study participants to PARTAD information databases Registrars of Russia and Depositories of Russia. The relevance and validity of the information contained in PARTAD databases are ensured by regular (quarterly) information updating and software features (electronic database participant application form) supporting import of quarterly accounts received from professional securities market participants to databases and subsequent control over information correctness and validity on the part of PARTAD.

At present, the majority of actually functioning Russian infrastructural organizations (including non-Association members) participate in the national rating studies conducted by INFI together with PARTAD. Rating study findings are disclosed on sites specifically developed to provide information support to these projects - Rating of Registrars of Russia and Reliability Rating of Depositories of Russia, and covered by leading Russian business media. INFI/PARTAD rating participant banners are placed on corporate sites of the largest Russian infrastructural organizations, which is an evidence of significance of results and high authority of these rating studies.