Credit rating agencies

Find out more about how we supervise Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs). Credit Rating Agencies are financial services firms that issue credit ratings, which are opinions on the creditworthiness of an issuer or security.

Approach to supervision

In line with the FCA's Approach to Supervision[1], we supervise Credit Rating Agencies as members of a portfolio of firms[2] that share a common business model.

CRAs perform an integral role within global financial markets by providing opinions on the creditworthiness of a wide variety of financial instruments. Credit rating activities must be conducted in accordance with the principles of integrity, transparency, responsibility and good governance in order to ensure that resulting credit ratings used in the UK are independent, objective and of adequate quality.

Any legal person wishing to issue credit ratings in the UK for regulatory purposes, publicly or by subscription, will need to be registered or certified with us.

Credit Rating Agencies Portfolio Letter

This is our second letter[3] to the portfolio of credit rating agencies that we supervise, the first letter[4] having been sent in February 2022. We are sending it to all firms in the portfolio to communicate what we expect CRA's to do to minimise risks to consumers, market integrity or competition from failures to meet regulatory requirements. This letter describes our supervisory work programme for the next two years. It reflects our findings since the last portfolio letter and changes in the external risk environment.

Dear CEO Letter: Thematic Findings on Governance

In October 2022, we issued a Dear CEO letter[5] to our firms as part of our ongoing review of governance as a key driver of culture. We expect CRAs to consider the risks outlined and act where necessary. Overall, it was clear that multiple CRAs can do more to benefit from the value that a well-functioning Board can bring to the strategic direction and oversight of an organisation. We think that strong Board governance, clear Board-level accountability and independent challenge are essential to the delivery of independent ratings free from conflicts of interest.

Regulation

We supervise CRAs according to the EU Credit Rating Agencies Regulation[6] as amended by the CRA Regulations (EU Exit) 2019[7] (referred to collectively as the 'CRA Regulation').

In accordance with Article 8d of the CRA Regulation, we publish annually our market share report[8] for UK registered CRAs.

Use of Credit Ratings in the UK

UK firms may use credit ratings in the calculation of their capital requirements and for assessing risks in investment activity. UK firms using ratings for regulatory use in the UK need to use ratings that are issued or endorsed by a UK registered or certified CRA.

We supervise CRAs according to the EU Credit Rating Agencies Regulation[6] as amended by the CRA Regulations (EU Exit) 2019[7] (referred to collectively as the 'CRA Regulation').

In accordance with Article 8d of the CRA Regulation, we publish annually our market share report[8] for UK registered CRAs.

Credit Rating Agencies

Here we list the CRAs which are registered or certified with us.
The list will be updated as necessary and does not supersede the Financial Services Register[9].

CRA list

A.M. Best Europe, Rating Services Limited[10] [16]

ARC Ratings [11]

Creditreform Rating AG[12] [certified]

DBRS Ratings Limited[13] [20]

Egan-Jones Ratings Company[14] [certified]

Fitch Ratings Limited[15] [23]

HR Ratings de Mexico[16] [certified]

Kroll Bond Rating Agency UK Limited[17] [26]

Japan Credit Rating Agency[18] [certified]

Moody’s Investors Service Limited[19] [29]

S&P Global Ratings UK Limited [20]

Scope Ratings UK Limited [21]

The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited [22]

Accessing Credit Ratings Information

The FCA publishes CRA information as well as individual credit ratings data on our Public Ratings Database[23] (PRD). Users can search for specific credit ratings and access public press releases reported to us by regulated CRAs.

We also make available credit rating activity and performance statistics on our Central Repository Statistics (CERES)[24] platform. This website allows a user to view and download ratings statistics based on defined search criteria, using ratings data provided to us by regulated CRAs.

Unregulated Activities

Any firm that is carrying out credit rating activities in the UK without being registered with us is operating in breach of the CRA Regulation.

If you have any information on a firm that may be breaching the CRA regulation or are a firm that would like clarification as to whether it is engaging in credit rating activities, then please contact the Supervision Department at [email protected].

12/11/2024 : Information added Credit Reporting Agencies 2024 added

11/01/2023 : Editorial amendment page update as part of website refresh

30/11/2022 : Information added Information added about market share report

24/10/2022 : Publication added Dear CEO Letter: Thematic Findings on Governance.

30/06/2022 : Information changed Fitch Ratings (CIS) Limited removed from firms list

19/04/2022 : Information added CERES platform release

23/02/2022 : Information added Approach to Supervision added

24/11/2021 : Information changed Out of date content removed, other content updated

02/03/2021 : Link added List of third country jurisdictions meeting the conditions for endorsement or certification of credit ratings in the UK

04/01/2021 : Link added Public Ratings Database

First published: 07/01/2019 Last updated: 27/11/2024 See all updates

Credit rating agencies

On this page

Approach to supervision

Credit Rating Agencies

Accessing Credit Ratings Information

Unregulated Activities

On this page

In this section

CRA information and data

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