Explanation Regarding Unregistered Credit Ratings
To ensure market fairness and transparency, credit rating agencies are registered with the Financial Services Agency of Japan(“FSA”) under Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (“FIEA”). Accordingly, when performing solicitation using credit ratings
assigned by unregistered credit agencies, financial instruments firms are required by the FIEA to inform customers that such ratings
are unregistered and other information such as the significance of registration.
○Significance of the Registration
Registered credit rating agencies are regulated by FSA on (1) duty of good faith, (2) duty to set the internal control on
prevention of conflict of interests and to ensure fairness in the rating process, (3) prohibition to issue ratings of the issuer ofsecurities which the agency holds, (4) duty to publish rating policy and publicly disclose information of release/explanation
documents. These agencies are subject to supervision of FSA on reporting requirements, on-site inspections, and administrative
sanction while unregistered agencies are not.
○Name ofrating agencygroups○ Name andregistration no.
of the agency○ How to obtain
information on
overview ofpolicy andmethods on
issuing credit
ratings○ Premises,Significance,and Limitationsof Credit
Ratings

Moody’s Ratings(“Moody’s”)

S&P Global Ratings(“S&P”)

Fitch Ratings(“Fitch”)

Moody’s Japan K.K.
(Financial Services Agency
Commissioner (Rating) No. 2)
Posted in homepage of Moody’s
Japan K.K.
（https://www.ratings.moodys.com/japan/ratings-news） > “規制関連” (Regulations) > “開示”(Disclosure) > “無登録格付説明
関連” (Unregistered Rating
Information)

S&P Global Rating Japan K.K.
(Financial Services Agency
Commissioner (Rating) No. 5)
Posted in homepage of S&P
Global Rating Japan K.K.
(http://www.standardandpoors.co.jp) > “ライブラリ・規制関連”(Libraries & Regulations) > “無登録格付け情報” (Unregistered RatingInformation)(http://www.standardandpoors.co.jp/unregistered)Credit ratings of S&P are opinionsof the future credit quality of
specific issuers or obligations as ofthe date they are expressed andare not indications of theprobability of the occurrence of a
default by an issuer or a particularobligation and are not guaranteesof creditworthiness. Credit ratings
are not a recommendation topurchase, sell or hold any
securities, or a statement ofmarket liquidity or prices in thesecondary market of anyobligations.
Credit ratings may change
depending on various factors,
including issuers’ performance ofunderlying assets,creditworthiness of counterparties
and others.
S&P conducts rating analysis
based on information provided bysources it believes to be reliable,
and it will issue credit ratings only
in cases where the quality andquantity of the available
information is sufficient to allow itto form a credit opinion. However,S&P does not perform an audit,
due diligence or independent
verification of any information it
receives from the issuer or a thirdparty, nor does it guarantee its
accuracy, completeness ortimeliness or the results to beobtained from the use of suchinformation. Moreover, dependingon the rating, there may bepotential risks arising from thelimitations on the historical datathat are available for use.

Fitch Ratings Japan Ltd.
(Financial Services Agency Commissioner(Rating) No. 7)
Posted in homepage of Fitch Ratings Japan
Ltd (https://fitchratings.com/site/japan ) > “格付方針等の概要” (Outline of the Rating
Policy) in the “規制関連” section

Credit ratings are Moody’s
Rating’s (“Moody’s”) current
opinions of the relative futurecredit risk of entities, credit
commitments, or debt ordebt-like securities. Moody’s
defines credit risk as the risk thatan entity may not meet its
contractual, financial obligations
as they come due and any
estimated financial loss in theevent of default. Credit ratings
do not address any other risk,
including but not limited to:liquidity risk, market value risk,
or price volatility. Credit ratings
do not constitute investment or
financial advice, and credit
ratings are notrecommendations to purchase,sell, or hold particular securities.
No warranty, express or implied,
as to the accuracy, timeliness,completeness, merchantability
or fitness for any particularpurpose of any such rating orother opinion or information isgiven or made by Moody’s in any
form or manner whatsoever.
Based on the information
received from issuers or frompublic sources, the credit risks of
the issuers or obligations areassessed. Moody’s adopts allnecessary measures so that theinformation it uses in assigning acredit rating is of sufficientquality and from sources
Moody’s considers to be reliable.
However, Moody’s is not anauditor and cannot in every
instance independently verify orvalidate information received in
the rating process.

Ratings assigned by Fitch are opinions
based on established criteria andmethodologies. Ratings are not facts, andtherefore cannot be described as being“accurate” or “inaccurate”. Credit ratings do
not directly address any risk other thancredit risk. Credit ratings do not comment on
the adequacy of market price or market
liquidity for rated instruments. Ratings are
relative measures of risk; as a result, theassignment of ratings in the same category
to entities and obligations may not fullyreflect small differences in the degrees ofrisk. Credit ratings, as opinions on relative
ranking of vulnerability to default, do not
imply or convey a specific statisticalprobability of default.
In issuing and maintaining its ratings, Fitch
relies on factual information it receives fromissuers and underwriters and from othersources Fitch believes to be credible. Fitch
conducts a reasonable investigation of thefactual information relied upon by it inaccordance with its rating methodology, andobtains reasonable verification of that
information from independent sources, tothe extent such sources are available for agiven security or in a given jurisdiction.
The assignment of a rating to any issuer or
any security should not be viewed as aguarantee of the accuracy, completeness,or timeliness of the information relied on inconnection with the rating or the results
obtained from the use of such information. If
any such information should turn out tocontain misrepresentations or to beotherwise misleading, the rating associatedwith that information may not beappropriate. As a result, despite any
verification of current facts, ratings can beaffected by future events or conditions thatwere not anticipated at the time a rating wasissued or affirmed.
For more details, read
“格付及びその他の形態の意見に関する定義”on Fitch’s Japanese homepage.

The information above is prepared from sources which we believe is reliable as of June 25, 2024. However, we do not guarantee its accuracy
or completeness. Please refer to the homepage of each company for details.