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Use of ECAIs' ratings for risk-weighting purposes under Regulation (EU) No. 575/2013, as last modified by Regulation (EU) 2024/1623 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 May 2024 ("CRR")

The question is concerned with the following specific case: in connection with a specific private financing, a credit institution requests a rating for a certain entity which is among the credit institution’s customers and:  the rating is issued by an ECAI (as defined under art. 4(1)(98) CRR); the relevant ECAI is covered by the EBA's Mapping of ECAIs’ credit assessments under art. 136 CRR; the rating, being not requested by (or on behalf of) the rated entity/issuer and/or a related third party and is classified "unsolicited" and EBA's Decision 2021/397 (confirming that unsolicited credit assessments of certain ECAIs do not differ in quality from their solicited credit assessments under art 138 CRR - EBA/DC/2021/397) applies to the relevant ECAI; the rating follows the same published methodologies – and is based on the same set of information – as public ratings and this is expressly confirmed by the relevant ECAI; the rating, although private, is not subject to any contractual restrictions preventing the ECAI from issuing the same rating to third parties or, where applicable, on publication or distribution; namely, the ECAI, ceteris paribus, can issue the same rating to any other credit institution upon request, ensuring that the output is made available to all requesting entities on an equal basis.  Within this context, we seek confirmation that the unsolicited and private rating issued by the ECAI, in the case under consideration, can be used by the credit institution under the CRR for attributing risk weights in the standardized approach.

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2025_7416
  • Topic: External Credit Assessment Institutions (ECAI)
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as Rejected Q&A: 09/10/2025