BEIJING - China Credit Rating Co Ltd, the country's first rating agency to charge investors, said Friday it signed agreements with 17 financial institutions, including China Development Bank and Agricultural Bank of China, to provide credit rating services.

According to the agreements, the rating agency will charge those financing underwriters for credit rating services.

The move aims to promote the credibility of the country's rating companies and better protect investors.

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It is a significant step for the country to introduce the investor-charging rating service mode, which will greatly benefit the stable development of its rating industries and bond markets, Jin Qi, assistant to the governor of the People's Bank of China, said during the signing ceremony.

Currently, all other credit rating agencies in China operate under an issuer-charging profit mode, a common international practice that has been widely criticized as the international financial crisis and European sovereign debt crisis called the credibility of international rating agencies' into question.

The rating firm, established in September 2010, registered capital of 50 million yuan.