Universal Credit Rating Group
Universal Credit Rating Group (UCRG) () is a credit ratings agency based in Hong Kong. Plans to create UCRG were announced in October 2012, and it was officially founded in Hong Kong in June 2013, as a partnership between Dagong Global Credit, Egan-Jones Ratings, and RusRating. It claims to be the only international credit rating agency based in the Asia Pacific area. Its creation is supported by the governments of Russia and China, due to a belief that the "Big Three" US-based ratings agencies (Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings), which control 95 % of the world ratings market, have been too often used for political means by being overly generous to US and EU-based clients while being biased against developing or emerging economies. Advisory Council. On 23June 2014, UCRG announced its 2015-20 operating plan along with the formation of an advisory council to the group chaired by former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. The other initial members are former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, former Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and former Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov