A spectacular finding from Jan F. Wagner’s investigation
Jan F. Wagner’s investigation into Scope, published in the September edition of Bankmagazin by Springer Professional under the title “Die Reifeprüfung von Scope”, draws attention to a side of the European rating agency that stands in sharp contrast to its recent strategic successes. Jan F. Wagner’s investigation may therefore have raised a question that is…
Is ESMA Becoming a Rating Agency? Steffen Kern Places Risk Monitoring in the Broader Role of Financial Supervision
The presentation of risks by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) can easily invite a comparison with the work of a rating agency. Liquidity, market, credit, contagion, operational and environmental risks are assessed and communicated using a colour-coded system ranging from lower to very high risk. Combined with an outlook indicating whether risks are…
Credit Ratings Enter the Third Dimension: Immersive Analytics at the iff
Credit ratings, default rates and yield curves are traditionally analysed through tables, charts and dashboards. At today’s session of the iff Immersive Finance Forum, Dr. Oliver Everling and Christian Spiekermann demonstrated how three-dimensional visualisation and Virtual Reality can bring these relationships together in a shared spatial environment. Under the title “Immersive Analytics for Finance”, the approximately 80-minute…
From AI Answers to Human Judgment: Investment Criteria Visible in 3D
Financial analysis is increasingly becoming a dialogue with artificial intelligence. Annual reports can be summarized within seconds, financial ratios can be calculated automatically, and AI systems can formulate investment conclusions almost instantly. Yet one fundamental question remains: Should investors really leave the assessment of a company entirely to AI? Data2Space takes a different approach. Instead of…
Warning About the BaFin Statement: A Licence Is Not a Seal of Quality
The image on this webpage ist generated using artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Any visuals displayed on this site are used for illustrative purposes only. The statement published by Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) on 26 August 2026 that “a BaFin licence is seen in the market as a seal of quality” deserves closer scrutiny:…
Operational Risk in Corporate Credit Ratings: Making the Invisible Visible
Credit ratings are often associated with financial ratios: leverage, liquidity, profitability, cash flow and debt-service capacity. Yet the resilience of a company cannot be understood from financial figures alone. Behind every balance sheet stands an operating organization—and operational weaknesses can become financial weaknesses when disruptions affect revenues, costs, liquidity, reputation or the ability to service…
AI Advisory Boards and Their Implications for Corporate Credit Ratings
A perspective from RATING EVIDENCE GmbH Artificial intelligence is moving from an experimental technology to an integral component of corporate decision-making. One particularly interesting development is the emergence of AI advisory boards: structured systems in which several AI personas or agents independently assess a strategic question from different perspectives before challenging one another and synthesizing their…
Data2Space: Turning Complex Data into Interactive Experiences
Data has become one of the most important resources in modern business. Companies rely on increasingly complex information to understand markets, evaluate investments, manage risks, and make strategic decisions. Yet having access to large amounts of data is only part of the challenge. The real difficulty lies in making complex information understandable and revealing the…
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