Understanding Ratings
Rating Services
KBRA Credit Rating
Published KBRA Credit Rating: A credit rating of an entity, issuer or issuer obligation that is published and surveilled. It may include a preliminary rating phase in which the preliminary rating is based upon preliminary information and conditioned upon one or more assumptions. KBRA expresses its credit ratings using the long-term, short-term or the IFSR rating scales. 1
Unpublished KBRA Credit Rating: A credit rating of an entity, issuer or issuer obligation that is unpublished, confidential and surveilled. It may include a preliminary rating phase in which the preliminary rating is based upon preliminary information and conditioned upon one or more assumptions. KBRA expresses its credit ratings using the long-term, short-term or the IFSR rating scales. 1
Other Permissible Services
KBRA Credit Assessment: A KBRA Credit Assessment (“KCA”) is an evaluation of the creditworthiness of an unrated issuer or issuer obligation that is unpublished and confidential. KCAs are produced with limited information and are typically requested by a third-party. KCAs are typically point-in-time assessments but may be updated at the request of the third-party or at KBRA's discretion and are indicated using lower case letters. KCAs are not credit ratings.
KBRA Indicative Rating: An unpublished and confidential assessment of an entity, issuer or issuer obligation which reflects the analysis of hypothetical scenarios. KBRA will provide credit committee feedback on up to three scenarios. Indicative ratings reflects a point-in-time assessment and are not surveilled. Indicative Ratings are not credit ratings; however, they are expressed using KBRA's long-term, short-term and IFSR rating scales.
KBRA Structured Finance Assessment (“K-SFA”): A K-SFA is an unpublished and confidential assessment of an asset portfolio, a potential structured finance obligation or the potential credit impact to a current credit rating of a structured finance obligation. KBRA will provide credit committee feedback, and where requested, a written report, on up to three scenarios , which may include providing portfolio losses for certain asset classes. Although K-SFAs will be forward looking, the assessment is point-in-time and is not surveilled. KBRA will not assist in creating or structuring scenarios. Although K-SFAs may be expressed using KBRA's long-term and short-term rating scales, they are not credit ratings.
KBRA Fund Rating: A KBRA Fund Rating (“KFR”) is a forward-looking opinion meant to indicate the quality of a fund's underlying portfolio as well as the management team's ability to deploy the fund's investment strategy, and KFRs are only assigned to investment funds. KFRs are not credit ratings and are differentiated from KBRA Credit Ratings by the usage of a distinct ‘kf' subscript. KFRs do not provide an indication of performance as it relates to returns, yield, volatility or peer analysis.
1 Please refer to KBRA's Rating Scales for a description of KBRA's credit rating scales, Rating Outlook, Watch Status and other ratings products and information.
A downloadable version of our Rating Scales and Services can be accessed here.