An overview of CRA III (also referred to as the CRA III Regulation, CRA 3 or CRA3) (Regulation 462/2013). CRA III was a Regulation that amended the CRA Regulation (Regulation 1060/2009) to strengthen existing EU legislation on credit rating agencies (CRAs). It was published in the Official Journal in May 2013

CRA III made significant amendments to the CRA Regulation on issues including the reliance of firms on external credit ratings, sovereign debt ratings, competition in the CRA industry, the civil liability of CRAs and the independence of CRAs.

The note also considers Directive 2013/14/EU (CRA III Directive) which amended the Occupational Pension Funds Directive (2003/41/EC) (IORP Directive), the UCITS IV Directive (2009/65/EC) and the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (2011/61/EU) (AIFMD) to require firms not to rely solely or mechanistically on external credit ratings for assessing the creditworthiness of assets.