History

Decree Law Nº 3,500 was enacted in March 1980 and came into effect on May 1st, 1981. This changed the structure of the Chilean pension system from a Defined Benefit scheme to a Defined Contribution scheme. This Pension Reform was the foundation for the creation of the Comisión Clasificadora de Riesgo (CCR) in 1985.

Since then, CCR’s objective has been to approve, modify or reject debt instrument rating projects in which pension funds may be invested and also to approve stocks of open corporations. These projects were developed by Pension Fund Managing Companies (AFP’s) based on a methodology to classify financial instruments that was established by Supreme Decree N° 35, on April 25, 1985.

At first, CCR’s membership was composed mainly be state representatives (three Superintendents of the financial area, one Central Bank representative) and only three representatives of the AFP's. The AFP's Superintendent was the Chairman and his office was the Technical and Executive Secretariat, with an officer from said government body acting as Secretary.

However, it was not until March, 1990 that the CCR became administratively and financially autonomous and its new membership changed to mainly private members. Thus, the Central Bank representative was replaced by one representative from the AFP’s, its President was elected and his expenses as well as the expenses from the Administrative Secretariat started to be financed by the AFP’s. CCR’s membership and dependence have been the same since then.