The Economist Intelligence Unit ("EIU") is part of The Economist Group and provides unsolicited Sovereign ratings on 120 countries since March 1989.

Registration status in the EU: EIU is registered as CRA with ESMA since June 3rd, 2013.

Since 1. January 2014, EIU is also a recognized ECAI across the whole European Union.

On November 1st, 2016, the following mapping of ECAI ratings to the 6 Credit Quality Steps under the Standardized approach for Banks (Capital Requirements Regulation, CRR) and the 7 Steps under Solvency II for insurances in the EU entered into force:

To see how this agency’s mapping compares with other agencies, please read our dedicated page on the EU ECAIs.

EIU is considered a small Credit rating agency for the purpose of Article 8d of CRAIII. 

Business model: EIU has been providing Country assessments since 1989. EIU provides industry and sovereign research. It assigns Sovereign ratings on an unsolicited basis.

Standard Abbreviation: EIU

Coverage: EIU provides exclusively unsolicited sovereign ratings.

Availability of ratings and reports at website: while EIU operates under the investor-pays model, substantial information on the 120 countries covered is available at EIU websites. In order to view rating information, you will need to register a free account with EIU,