The Credit Research Initiative (CRI) is a non-profit undertaking under the Asian Institute of Digital Finance (AIDF) of the National University of Singapore. It was launched in July 2009 at the Risk Management Institute (RMI) by then the RMI director Professor Duan Jin-Chuan with the able assistance from Dr. Oliver Chen. Over the course of its development, the CRI has been dedicating to promoting the research on credit risk and offering directly useful credit analytics to the market participants.
The CRI uses scientific methods (e.g. forward-intensity default prediction model, Duan et. al. 2012, Journal of Econometrics, and others) to provide credit risk assessments for exchange-listed companies around the world. To date, the CRI has developed several data products, including the Probability of Default (PD), Actuarial Spread (AS), and the Corporate Vulnerability Index (CVI) that are updated daily with newly collected information. The credit risk data are available on over 73,000 firms in 133 economies and are accessible through this website free of charge. Some of them can alternatively be obtained through Bloomberg, CBonds, and Thomson Reuters potentially at a cost wherever requested by the data distributors
As a research center, the CRI currently produces a suite of publications (Weekly Credit Brief, Semi-Annual Credit Summary, Credit Briefs on SMEs, and Special Reports) to disseminate novel technologies in credit research and release commentaries on the occurrences in the credit market. To promote the exchange of perspectives and expertise, the CRI regularly hosts visits of experts from research bodies (call for proposal) and other professional organizations.
Thanks to its unique data management infrastructure and credit analytics expertise, the CRI has been constantly called upon by corporates, financial institutions, and international organizations, such as IMF, for its value-added services. Based on their various requests, the CRI has helped the external parties to compile data in prescribed formats, build bespoke models, create readily actionable toolboxes, etc.
The CRI adopts a “public good” approach to building its credit ratings infrastructure, much like the way in which the public sector does for highways and public educational systems. Its rating data are released daily on its website and are available for free. Its rating methodologies are also made available publicly.