ABN AMRO Bank NV v Bathurst Regional Council

摘要

In a landmark decision in 2012, the Federal Court of Australia found, among other things, that rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) owed investors a duty of care in respect of a financial product it rated and S&P had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in giving the financial product an AAA rating. S&P challenged these findings, and after two years the Federal Court of Appeal in ABN AMRO Bank NV v Bathurst Regional Council [2014] FCAFC 65 (Bathurst) has handed down its decision. The finding on appeal is unequivocal: a rating agency can owe a duty of care to investors for the rating it gives a financial product and therefore must exercise reasonable care when formulating, and have reasonable grounds for, a financial product rating.