China Chengxin International Credit Rating’s (CCXI) dominant position in the onshore debt market has once again made it Asiamoney’s best credit rating agency for green bonds.
CCXI rated 73 green bonds out of 217 in 2020, giving it a market share of 34%. In terms of size, it rated Rmb86.7 billion ($13.5 billion) in issuance, or about 39% of all green bond issuance.
While CCXI maintained a significant lead in the market, its advantage shrank last year as other rating firms increased their focus on green deals. But CCXI still has an edge over its peers. In April 2020, CCXI rated the first green Covid-19 bond issued in Hubei Province, the epicenter of the pandemic in its early months. The issuer, Wuhan Guanggu Environmental Tech, raised Rmb440 million by securitizing the income from its desulfurization service contracts. All of the security’s senior tranches received AAA ratings, and the weighted average coupon rate was 3.89%.
Under its president, Yan Yan, CCXI is actively involved in the domestic and international green finance community. It is a council member of China’s Green Finance Committee and a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Investment supported by the United Nations, among other affiliations.