External Credit Assessment Institution

External Credit Assessment Institutions ( ECAI ) are rating agencies that are formally recognized within the European Union as such for assessing certain risks in the financial markets. The European Banking Authority is responsible for recognition as an ECAI at European level . A rating agency must apply for registration in accordance with Art. 2 Paragraph 3 of Regulation EC / 1060/2009 in order to be recognized as an external rating agency in accordance with Annex VI, Part 2 of Directive 2006/48 / EC.

Recognition as an ECAI in the USA corresponds to the recognition of rating agencies as Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO) issued by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) since 1975 .

purpose

The Eurosystem relies on information from four sources to assess the creditworthiness of eligible assets. One of them, as part of these creditworthiness assessments in the Eurosystem (ECAF), are the approved external rating agencies (ECAIs).

Admission requirement

European credit institutions, investment firms, insurance companies, reinsurance companies, undertakings for collective investment in securities (UCITS) and institutions for occupational retirement provision may only use ratings for supervisory purposes from rating agencies that have their registered office in, in accordance with Article 4 (1) of Regulation EC / 1060/2009 of the Community and are registered under this Regulation . Ratings of companies domiciled in a third country or for financial instruments issued in third countries issued by a rating agency domiciled in a third country can be recognized in the Community according to certain criteria.

Rating agencies must develop their methodology for rating according to the principles of

Objectivity and
Align independence and this methodology one
subject to ongoing review and this
Shaping transparency and
reveal.

According to the guidelines of the European Central Bank (ECB) dated September 20, 2011 on monetary policy instruments and procedures of the Eurosystem, the following minimum requirements must be met for ECAIs:

ECAIs must be formally approved by the relevant Union supervisory authority for the euro countries in which they are used in accordance with Directive 2013/36 / EU (Equity Capital Directive) .
ECAIs must meet operational criteria and have corresponding degrees of coverage in order to ensure the efficient implementation of the framework for credit assessments in the Eurosystem.

monitoring

The Eurosystem reserves the right to decide on the admission of an ECAI to its lending operations using, inter alia, its performance monitoring procedure and the companies, insofar as they participate in the ECAF, are subject to the Eurosystem's performance monitoring procedure.

An ECAI's credit rating system can be temporarily or permanently excluded by the Eurosystem,

if there has been no improvement in the performance of the system and monitoring for several years , or

if it violates the rules of the framework for credit assessments in the Eurosystem and if the irregularity is not only minor.

transparency

According to Article 6 (2) of Regulation EC / 1060/2009, each rating agency must take all necessary steps to ensure that the issuing of a rating does not involve existing or potential conflicts of interest or business relationships of the agency itself, its management, its rating analysts, its employees or anyone other natural person whose services the rating agency can use or control, or other persons directly or indirectly connected to it through a control relationship (see also Art 7 ff and Art 12 on the transparency report as well as Annex I in Regulation EC / 1060/2009).

The Eurosystem has the right to request clarifications from external rating agencies with regard to public ratings if it deems this necessary . ECAIs must performance reports for regularly backed securities publish (asset-backed securities).

ECAI list

The EBA publishes an up-to-date directory of the ECAI on its website.

	AT	BE	BG	CZ	MR	CY	DK	DE	EE	FR	FI	Tbsp	IC	EGG	IT	LV	LT	LI	LU	HU	MT	NL	NO	PL	PT	RO	SL	SK	IT	SE	UK
Fitch Ratings (NRSRO since 1975)					f
Moody’s (NRSRO since 1975)					f
Standard & Poor’s (NRSRO since 1975)				x	f																						x
DBRS , Canada (NRSRO since 2003)			x	x	f	x			x			x	x		x	x	x	x			x		x	x		x	x	x			x
Japan Credit Rating Agency , Japan (NRSRO since 2007)	x		x	x	f	x	x		x		x	x	x		x	x	x	x			x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Rating and Investment Information, Inc. (R&I)	x		x	x	f	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Banque de France (BdF)	x		x	x	f	x	x	x	x		x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Creditreform Rating AG (CRAG)	x	x	x	x	f	x	x		x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Euler Hermes Rating Deutschland GmbH (EHRG)	x	x	x	x	f	x	x		x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
ICAP Group SA- Business Information, Management Consultants and Business Services	x	x	x	x	f	x	x	x	x	x	x		x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x		x	x	x	x	x	x
Coface	x	x	x	x	f	x	x	x	x		x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x		x	x	x	x		x		x	x	x	x
Cerved Group	x	x	x	x	f	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x		x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Companhia Portuguesa de Rating	x	x	x	x	f	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x		x	x	x	x	x	x
Informa D&B Portugal	x	x	x	x	f	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x		x	x	x	x	x	x

Legend : x = not represented in this country / f = information missing / = represented in this country.

Are from the NRSRO list

AM Best Company (since 2005)

Egan-Jones Rating Company (since 2007)

Realpoint LLC (since 2008), renamed Morningstar Credit Ratings on June 10, 2011

Kroll Bond Rating Agency (since 2010)

not directly represented in Europe or approved as an ECAI.

Preferential rating agencies

In accordance with preliminary remark No. 98 to Regulation EU / 575/2013 and preliminary remark No. 73 to the Capital Adequacy Regulation ( CRR ), the recognition of a rating agency as an external rating agency (ECAI) should not result in a market that is already dominated by three large companies will seal off even further. Without making the process simpler or less demanding, the EBA and the central banks of the ESCB should ensure that more rating agencies are recognized as ECAIs in order to open the market to other companies .

literature

Web links

External credit assessment institution source (ECB website)
ECB GUIDELINE on Eurosystem monetary policy instruments and procedures (OJ L 331, p. 1).
EU regulation EG / 1060/2009 on rating agencies (PDF) .
Literature list on the Wiwi workbench - Influence and regulatory options of rating agencies in the context of the financial market crisis
Moody's "Tracing the Originals of 'Investment Grade" ", January 2004 (Moody's overview of the agencies' history)
James Surowiecki's New Yorker column on rating agencies (engl.)

swell

↑ ECAIs are commonly referred to as rating agencies in the financial markets - GUIDELINE OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK of September 20, 2011 on monetary policy instruments and procedures of the Eurosystem (new version ECB / 2011/14, 2011/817 / EU, OJ L 331 of December 14, 2011 , P. 1.), point 6.4.3.1, fn. 80.

↑ According to Art. 3 Para. 1 lit o.) Of Regulation EG / 1060/2009, rating activities are the analysis of data and information and the evaluation, approval, submission and review of ratings .

↑ Regulation (EC) No. 1060/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of September 16, 2009 on rating agencies, OJ L 302/1.

↑ Except if it is limited to the ratings mentioned in Art. 2 Paragraph 2 of Regulation EC / 1060/2009, for which Regulation EC / 1060/2009 does not apply. Directive 2006/48 / EC has since been repealed by Directive 2013/36 / EU of June 26, 2013 on access to the business of credit institutions and the supervision of credit institutions and investment firms.

↑ In addition to the ECAIs, these are: internal creditworthiness analysis procedures of the national central banks, internal rating procedures (IRB procedure) of the business partners and rating tools (RTs) of external providers

↑ Eurosystem credit assessment framework (English for: framework for credit assessments in the Eurosystem ).

↑ ECB GUIDELINE OJ. L 331. p. 1, point 6.3.1, third paragraph.

↑ See also Articles 135 and 267 of Regulation EU / 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 26, 2013 on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment firms and amending Regulation EU / 646/2012, OJ 176/1.

↑ Annex VI, Part 2, of Directive 2006/48 / EC, repealed by Directive 2013/36 / EU, points 1.1 to 1.4.

↑ ECB GUIDELINE OJ. L 331. S. 1, Point 6.4.3.1 and ECB on ECAIs ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.ecb.europa.eu

↑ ECB GUIDELINE OJ. L 331. p. 1, point 6.3.5.

↑ ECB GUIDELINE OJ. L 331. p. 1, point 6.3.1, fourth paragraph. For asset-backed securities issued on or after March 1, 2010, the Eurosystem requires at least two creditworthiness assessments from approved external rating agencies for the respective issue - Section 6.3.2. lit. b). See also the EU regulation EG / 1060/2009 on rating agencies.

↑ Art 2 Paragraph 4 and 18 Paragraph 3 of Regulation EC / 1060/2009. According to the EBA, the list published here has the date of publication: October 13, 2010 and is current: February 18, 2014. Retrieved on March 4, 2014 under [1]

↑ Realpoint LLC Rebranding Notification ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.

[1] ECAIs are commonly referred to as rating agencies in the financial markets - GUIDELINE OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK of September 20, 2011 on monetary policy instruments and procedures of the Eurosystem (new version ECB / 2011/14, 2011/817 / EU, OJ L 331 of December 14, 2011 , P. 1.), point 6.4.3.1, fn. 80.