The leading European rating agency Scope obtains registration with the Swiss financial market supervisory authority FINMA.
The Swiss financial market supervisory authority has issued a license to conduct credit rating business in Switzerland to Scope Ratings GmbH with regards to art. 6 ERV (Capital Adequacy Ordinance, CAO). Financial market regulation in Switzerland stipulates that supervised institutions may use the credit ratings of registered credit rating agencies for regulatory purposes. In order to maintain minimum quality requirements credit rating agencies operating on the Swiss market require registration with FINMA. With their assessments of the creditworthiness of issuers and their debt instruments, credit rating agencies provide important information that is used by both financial market participants and regulators. In certain areas, such as the calculation of banks‘ capital adequacy, only credit ratings from agencies that have been registered with FINMA may be used.
Scope plans to greatly expand its analytical coverage in the short term so as to increase users’ acceptance of its ratings. Alongside its mandated public ratings, Scope will therefore increasingly publish ratings commissioned by investors. Torsten Hinrichs, COO of Scope Group and managing director of Scope Ratings, has stated that,
“This official registration will enable us to step up our efforts to attract Swiss issuers in future.”
Scope Group intends to leverage this market opportunity with expansion into Switzerland. Founder and CEO Florian Schoeller adds that,
“Scope’s registration with FINMA will have a direct impact on the capital requirements of Swiss investors and foster investor recognition. This will add value for issuers and investors.”
Die Mobiliar from Switzerland is one of an increasing number of relevant institutional investors pumped fresh capital into Scope.
With more than 200 employees, Scope is the largest European rating agency. Scope is also the only EU-based rating agency that is both a full-service provider and operates internationally. The rating agency maintains offices in London, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Oslo, Frankfurt and Berlin, where Scope is headquartered. Scope Ratings is a credit rating agency which is already registered according to the EU regulation on credit rating agencies and holds External Credit Assessment Institution (ECAI) status. Scope is also seeking ECAF status.