Bangkok--12 Feb--TRIS Rating On 7 February, 2008, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) recognized TRIS Rating as an ECAI (External Credit Assessment Institution) under the terms of the BASEL II accord. The decision by BOT means that financial institutions may use ratings from TRIS Rating to determine the risk weights of loans provided to rated borrowers. These risk-weighted assets will be used to calculate the minimum capital requirements under the Standardised Approach, which will be implemented by the BOT by the end of 2008. Dr. Warapatr Todhanakasem, TRIS Rating President, said that the central bank approved TRIS Rating because the company qualifies in each of the six eligible criteria — Objectivity, Independence, International access/Transparency, Disclosure, Resources, and Credibility. The BOT will start applying the capital requirements set forth under the BASEL II accord for all financial institutions this year. In the determination of the risk weights of their loans under the Standardised Approach, the financial institutions may only use ratings from recognized rating agencies as a base for the determination of the risk weights. The risk weights, which will be in the range of 20%-150% of each loan, will depend on the rating of each borrower. Dr. Warapatr said that the implementation of BASEL II will help identify the real credit risk of each financial institution by using the risk weights of its loans to determine the minimum level of capital requirement. TRIS Rating will continue to develop its rating services for the benefit of market participants, including investors as well as issuers, and shall continue to perform its role to further develop the Thai capital market.