Scope has cemented its place at the ECB’s top table of rating agencies after the central bank accepted the agency’s ABS ratings into the Eurosystem. It is the first rating agency founded in Europe to be included in the regulator’s list of external credit assessment institutions (ECAIs), which previously comprised Moody’s, S&P, Fitch and Morningstar DBRS.
Scope’s other ratings have been accepted since November when the agency said it was working to fulfil the ECB’s ABS criteria. At the time, integrating Scope into the Eurosystem IT infrastructure was set to take months. But according to a statement from Scope, completion is now “expected shortly”.
“We are delighted that all our credit ratings are accepted by the ECB,” Florian Schoeller, chief executive of Scope Group, said in a statement. “This is what the market has been waiting for — greater diversity of credit opinions which enables investors and banks to better manage risks while helping Europe’s capital markets grow.”
The group’s CAO, Guillaume Jolivet, said the ECB’s decision was “concrete progress towards a fully functioning capital market union”, highlighting that Scope is a “European rating agency”.
Scope Group, which was founded in Berlin in 2002, established Scope Ratings in 2012. Moody’s, S&P and Fitch were founded in New York. Morningstar DBRS was formed from companies founded in North America and is headquartered in Toronto.