About

Mission & Values

We create value for investors and issuers by helping them make informed decisions about credit risk and credit risk management. Our European perspective adds to the diversity of credit opinion – an essential element for transparent, resilient, and well-functioning financial markets.

At Scope, we live by the following corporate values:

European perspective and analytical excellence
Independent ratings and actionable research
Entrepreneurial mindset and client focus
Empowered teams and personal growth
Diversity and innovation

Our story

At Scope Group, we offer ratings and research to issuers and investors across all segments of debt capital markets. Scope Ratings is the leading European credit rating agency (CRA). Scope Fund Analysis is one of Europe’s leading providers of investment-fund ratings. Scope ESG Analysis assesses sustainability risks.

Our history goes back more than 20 years to 2002 when Florian Schoeller founded Scope in Berlin as a firm specialising in the analysis of alternative investments. Ten years later, we expanded into credit ratings with the goal of establishing the European alternative to the US rating agencies. Acquisitions followed. Scope acquired FERI EuroRating Services AG in 2016 and Euler Hermes Rating in 2021. Today, Scope Ratings is the uncontested market leader among European rating agencies.

Our progress has been backed by individual and institutional investors, among them AXA, Crédit Agricole, Groupe BPCE, RAG-Stiftung and HDI / Talanx. Our shareholder structure and the Scope Foundation guarantee Scope’s independence as a European rating agency. Today, we have around 750 issuer ratings and more than 13,500 bond ratings, equivalent to more than EUR 43trn in total debt rated.

Scope’s analysts – based in Berlin, Frankfurt, London, Milan, Madrid, Oslo, Paris and Poznan – have developed progressive methodologies which recognise that understanding and capturing local political, economic, legal, social and cultural factors are crucial for accurately assessing credit, investment and sustainability risk.

Europe’s financial sovereignty: The ECB accepted Scope Ratings as a new external credit assessment institution in November 2023, making our credit ratings eligible for use in ECB monetary policy operations under the Eurosystem Credit Assessment Framework (ECAF).

Scope Ratings’ role in Europe’s financial system has also grown in importance, given recent geopolitical and macroeconomic developments. European policymakers have put Europe’s strategic autonomy at the top of their agenda, including completion of Europe’s capital markets union.

In this context, recognition of the value of our credit ratings has grown significantly, underlined by our ECAF status. We have secured mandates from Europe’s most important institutions: the European Union, the European Stability Mechanism and most recently the European Investment Bank.

Legal Structure & Shareholders

Scope SE & Co. KGaA is the holding company of the Scope Group and the leading EU-based provider of independent ratings, research and risk analysis solutions across asset classes.

The agency’s legal structure includes the separation of shareholder’s interests from strategic management. The Scope Foundation, one of three shareholders of the general partner Scope Management SE, ensures in the long term that no one besides the three can influence the corporate strategy and orientation of Scope and that the rating agency will always remain in the hands of European guardian shareholders.

Scope’s shareholder structure also includes limited partners. These are long-term investors such as RAG-Stiftung, one of Germany’s largest foundations, Groupe BPCE and Crédit Agricole, two of France´s largest banking groups, and insurance companies such as AXA, HDI/Talanx, and Swiss Mobiliar. In addition, numerous renowned individual shareholders with distinguished backgrounds in finance and industry have invested in the European rating agency.

Shareholders of Scope Management SE

Shareholders of Scope SE & Co. KGaA

Institutional Investors

Private shareholders

Approximately 80 renowned shareholders with distinguished backgrounds in finance and industry have invested in Scope, Europe’s leading rating firm.

Licences

Rating agency registrations

Scope Ratings, a wholly owned subsidiary of Scope Group, has been registered with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) as an external credit assessment institution (ECAI) since 2014. Switzerland’s financial market supervisory authority FINMA registered Scope in 2019. The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) registered Scope in November 2023.

ECB acceptance

In November 2023 the European Central Bank (ECB) accepted Scope Ratings as a new external credit assessment institution, making Scope’s credit ratings eligible under the Eurosystem Credit Assessment Framework (ECAF). Scope’s credit ratings can be used to fulfil credit quality requirements of marketable assets that are eligible as collateral in Eurosystem monetary policy operations.

ECAI mapping

The three European supervisory authorities - the European Banking Authority (EBA), the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) - provide a standardised framework for comparing ratings from different agencies. Scope’s ratings are included in this mapping and are on par with those of S&P, Moody’s and Fitch.

Sustainability
& Group Policies

Sustainability is an integral part of our corporate strategy. The Scope Group is guided by the principles of sustainability at all levels of its business operations. In our actions and activities with employees, customers, market participants and competitors, Scope acts according to the highest standards of ethical business conduct, which are embodied in our Group Code of Ethics. We also expect our suppliers to act in accordance with our corporate values.

As a responsible employer, Scope employees can choose from a range of diverse benefits. The Scope Group also aims at minimising our environmental impact. The greatest impact in our activities stems from business travel, but Scope also chooses sustainable office supplies whenever possible. As the group develops, our sustainability strategy will develop further.