Pauline Bartle asked: “As a new retail investor with FIIG, I understand that FIIG is forbidden by ASIC from telling retail investors the credit rating of companies, whereas wholesale investors can be informed. This seems contrary to the ethos of ASIC that all investors should seek to be well informed about the companies they are investing in.
Please could you tell me why ASIC believes this discrimination between retail and wholesale investors, should exist, when providing important investing information to all.”
This is a good question. In essence, the credit rating agencies have not purchased an AFS licence with a retail authorisation from ASIC, which prevents us from disclosing credit ratings to retail investors. For more information, please see ASIC Information Sheet 99.