EBA amends Decision on the quality of unsolicited credit assessments of certain ECAIs for the assignment of risk weights

18 July 2017

The revised Decision, which reflects the recognition of five additional ECAIs and the de-registering of one ECAI, is part of the Single Rulebook in banking and will ensure regulatory harmonisation across the EU regarding the use of unsolicited credit ratings for determining institutions' own funds requirements.

Institutions may use unsolicited credit assessments of an External Credit Assessment Institution (ECAI) for determining their capital requirements only if the European Banking Authority (EBA) has confirmed that those unsolicited ratings do not differ in quality from solicited ratings of that same ECAI.

On 17 May 2016, the EBA issued a Decision allowing the use of unsolicited credit assessments for 22 ECAIs in the context of the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR). The revised Decision amends this list in light of the recognition of five additional ECAIs and the de-registering of one ECAI and confirms that unsolicited credit assessments do not differ in quality from solicited ratings.

In addition, the revised Decision also considers an ECAI that issued only solicited ratings when the EBA Decision was published and started issuing unsolicited ratings subsequently.

The revised Decision is based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis. 

Press release

EBA Revised Decision on the Use of Unsolicited Credit Assessments

EBA Companion Report on Unsolicited Credit Assessments


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