Standard&Poor's Ratings Services is introducing amended criteria for assessing the capital adequacy of financial institutions that we rate worldwide, for use in determining their creditworthiness. Specifically, these criteria feature a new risk-adjusted capital (RAC) ratio for financial institutions. To calculate that, we compare our newly developed measure, Standard&Poor's risk-weighted assets, to a new measure of capital, total adjusted capital (TAC). With the RAC, a risk-adjusted capital ratio, we aim to provide a complementary, globally consistent, and independent view of capital adequacy for each of the financial institutions that we rate. The RAC initiative is aimed at augmenting our independence, strengthening the rating process, and increasing our transparency to better serve the global markets. Unlike regulatory ratios
