Rapid Ratings wins ASA mandate

Queensland based corporate credit and equity risk rating agency Rapid Ratings has struck a deal with the Australian Shareholders Association (ASA) to offer stock market research services to the groups 7500 members.

From December, ASA members will be offered discounted access to on-line Rapid Ratings equity research that was previously only available to major institutional investors, brokers and research houses.

This will include buy/hold/sell recommendations on the ASX Top 200, as well as a list of the best five and best 15 buys.

The deal is a feather in the cap of the niche operator because as Rapid Ratings chief executive Patrick Caragata notes, the ASA is focused on protecting the interests of individual investors.

And ASA chief executive Stuart Wilson agreed and said prior to the deal the association did not have any structured research facility in place.

“We didn’t have a comprehensive service, and I think many of the member questioned the value of this broker based research,” he said.

“It is often hard for private investors to gain access to top shelf independent research.”

Caragata also said that a survey was underway of ASA members would help to tailor the Rapid Ratings product further to the needs of the individual Australian investor.

“We recently entered a similar arrangement with the Security Investors Association of Singapore, which is making our research available to its 63,000 members,” he said.

The ASA deal also follows off the heels of Rapid Ratings win back in September to supply global investment bank Lehman Brothers with equity research.

Rapid Ratings is majority owned by ASX-listed financial services group Collection House.