Surfing a Wave of Low Defaults and a Healthy Pipeline, RAM Spreads its Wings

RAM Ratings CEO Chong Kwee Siong discusses:

- RAM's business of ratings and how it makes it money;
- Its business model and whether this structure hurts credibility;
- CIMB's DS Nazir calls for an Asian ratings agency and where this idea currently stands;
- RAM's overseas businesses such as in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Kazakhstan;
- Outlook for debt issues this year;
- Existing ratings - Number of defaults;
- Credit trends in the context of ringgit appreciation and global weakness;
- The debt capital market and equity capital market interplay;
- Sukuk vs onventional;
- Views on Petronas' dividend cap vis-a-vis the expected impact on Malaysia's sovereign rating;
- Views on QE2 - the impact of the taps drying up;
- Malaysia's efforts to curb the fiscal deficit;