Coface Emirates Services becomes a rating agency for the Middle East
The United Arab Emirates is one of the first countries where Coface launches a new rating service.
The offer consists of a corporate rating, similar to the ratings proposed by other traditional rating agencies, in the form of letters (from AAA to D).
The financial rating has been developed to meet the increasing need of companies to inspire confidence to multiple stakeholders - e.g. suppliers, customers, strategic partners, bankers and can be either self initiated by a company or initiated by a “stakeholder”.
The financial rating is based on Coface’s “unsolicited ratings” database of scores and credit opinions on over 50 million companies in 160 countries worldwide and incorporates Coface’s many years of experience in underwriting business risks.
The rating and how it is compiled
The rating appears in the form of letters (A, BBB, etc...) like those of traditional rating agencies and it associates to these letters the same default risk probabilities.
It is determined by a comprehensive and rigorous 3 stage process: throughout the rating process both the tools applied and the people engaged in the process review and analyze the data at different stages i.e. no single person generates the rating.
STAGE 1
Collection of information
A questionnaire is completed by the company on which a rating is solicited. This information is analyzed by Coface and compared to internal information gathered from many sources, including those from within Coface’s 4 business lines. This data represents an unequalled source of payment information across all business sectors worldwide.
STAGE 2
Management review
An in-depth review with the rated company’s management and Coface experts ensures that all relevant information is captured in the report which will establish the rating. The rating reflects the depth of Coface experience of rating companies and is founded on a robust statistical approach.
STAGE 3
Validation of the rating
The final stage is for a Credit Insurance underwriter to validate the rating. Coface has 250 specialists in corporate risk underwriting in 30 centers across the world applying uniform standards and using a Common Risk System.
Why Coface’s rating is different
The Corporate Financial rating offers significant advantages in comparison to existing services:
It is based on Coface’s expertise – on the same database and risk management processes we use to underwrite the risk for our insured clients
It is transparent – the rated company is informed of progress at each stage of the process
It offers an extremely reliable statistical rating, tested over many years and across all geographical zones
The large volume of data taken into consideration drives the rating
It represents value for money – the breadth and depth of information accessible on companies of all sizes throughout the world and used every day allows us to price the rating very competitively
It is available to a broader market - to medium and small sized companies, for which the traditional agencies are out of reach, but also to companies in emerging countries
Impartiality is guaranteed – our experts in production and underwriting work independently from our commercial teams
It is not biased to financial organizations and is not designed to rate complex products such as finance vehicles.
Pricing
The price depends on the complexity of the company rated.
If you would like to discuss your rating needs, contact Coface at:
Dubai International Financial Center
Gate Village #8
5th floor
P.O. Box 506598
Dubai, UAE
Tel: +971 4 702 6800
Fax: +971 4 702 6826
Or send an email to: infomiddleeast@coface.com
