We are the leading European credit rating agency (CRA), ensuring that issuers and investors have a diversity of credit opinion. Our bottom-up approach is rooted in a European analytical perspective which considers the local conditions – financial, political, regulatory, judicial and cultural – in which issuers operate. We are the only European CRA accepted by the ECB under the Eurosystem Credit Assessment Framework (ECAF).
We create value for institutional investors and issuers by helping them make the most informed decisions possible about credit risk. We look through short-term economic and business cycles to identify underlying credit trends, paying close attention to environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.
European Rating Agency
Europe’s policy makers have long recognised the region’s need for its own strong, independent financial institutions, a view given extra urgency by the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 and the European sovereign debt crisis of 2011. Jean Claude Trichet, former President of the European Central Bank, reiterated this call at the launch of the Scope Foundation: "Europe needs a strong and independent European rating agency."
From German Funds to Credit Rating
Scope Group was founded in 2002 as a firm specialising in the alternative-investment analysis. In 2012, Scope expanded into rating credit and acquired PSR Ratings, before further consolidating the rating sector, acquiring FERI EuroRating and Euler Hermes Rating. In 2022, the European Union mandated Scope. In 2023, Scope was accepted by the European Central Bank, making its credit ratings eligible under the Eurosystem Credit Assessment Framework (ECAF).
European Focus
Scope Group’s analyst teams are based in Berlin, Frankfurt, London, Milan, Madrid, Oslo and Paris. Scope Ratings is registered as an External Credit Assessment Institution by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). Scope is registered by Switzerland’s financial market supervisory authority FINMA and the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Similarly to the ECB, the central banks of Norway and Sweden accept Scope's ratings.
The persons below are heading our analyst teams.
The Independent Directors (INEDs) of Scope Ratings GmbH and Scope Ratings UK Ltd. are not directly involved in the ratings activity. It is a control and support function for Scope Ratings as rating agency.
The Independent Directors oversee the following areas:
Surveillance of the rating agency’s rating policy.
Effectiveness of the internal quality control system.
Effectiveness of the rating agency’s Compliance Function.
Effectiveness of the rating agency’s Review Function.
