Every investment and financing decision is a choice between alternatives. Some are better, some are worse, and some are equally strong or equally weak. Anyone who deploys resources in the expectation of future benefits or returns needs to compare those alternatives.
We call this decision-oriented classification of options rating.
RATING EVIDENCE advances the mission of creating a world of trust and confidence by developing, improving, and promoting evidence-based ratings — and by initiating, supporting, and helping to finance companies that make better decisions possible in investment, financing, and business relationships.
Why Ratings Matter
Ratings translate complex judgments into clear, comparable, and verifiable classifications. They help people assess opportunities, risks, priorities, and the likely consequences of using scarce resources.
In a world shaped by limited resources, climate change, demographic change, and growing capital markets, ratings are more than financial tools. They can mobilize human judgment and artificial intelligence, support transparent decision-making, and help allocate capital not only for financial return, but also with regard to ethical, ecological, and social impact.
The underlying idea is simple: ordinal scales make judgments comparable. Their practical implementation, however, is often far from perfect. Even long-established rating providers and newer market participants can produce ratings that are unclear, inconsistent, poorly applied, or unsuited to the decision at hand.
Our Role
RATING EVIDENCE brings together expertise from across the international rating ecosystem. We work with authors, publishers, sponsors, partners, investors, and entrepreneurs worldwide to strengthen the quality, transparency, and practical value of rating systems.
Our work focuses on:
- Developing and improving rating methodologies and their application
- Supporting the establishment and expansion of rating providers
- Integrating rating systems into investment, financing, and risk-management processes
- Linking and developing data sources for evidence-based analysis
- Promoting professional standards, transparency, and independent judgment
- Supporting research, education, and public understanding of ratings
We do not merely observe these developments. Through participation, collaboration, and support for selected companies, we help turn promising ideas into durable businesses and useful market infrastructure.
RATING REPAIR is the virtual repair workshop, brand, and trademark of RATING EVIDENCE GmbH. It is a B2B service for the analysis, improvement, and better use of rating systems.
RATING REPAIR examines existing rating approaches, identifies weaknesses, and develops practical solutions. We help improve methodologies, integrate ratings into decision processes, and extend rating concepts to new asset classes, business models, and fields of application.
Ratings matter to banks, insurers, asset managers, rating agencies, issuers, investors, advisers, auditors, lawyers, tax advisers, software developers, and everyone else involved in investment, financing, or business-relationship decisions.
Experience and Independence
RATING EVIDENCE GmbH was established in Frankfurt am Main in 2004, emerging from Everling Advisory Services.
Its roots reach back to the late 1980s, when work began on rating systems, financial analysis, and the role of independent judgment in capital markets.
Since then, RATING EVIDENCE has supported clients and partners across Europe, the Americas, and Asia. More than 60 book publications, numerous newsletters, blogs, and contributions to public debate reflect decades of work on rating methodologies, capital markets, risk, governance, and financial decision-making.
Our independence, international perspective, and ability to make complex issues understandable are central to our work. We question established tools, methodologies, indices, research products, and market practices — not for their own sake, but to improve the quality of the decisions they support.
Our Vision
Our vision is to make the benefits of evidence-based ratings available across all asset classes and decision-making contexts.
We want ratings to help people compare alternatives fairly, allocate resources more efficiently, assess counterparties and investments responsibly, and build trust in markets. By combining rigorous analysis, practical experience, and entrepreneurial engagement, RATING EVIDENCE works to make better decisions possible where they matter most: when capital is invested, allocated, or financed.
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RATING REPAIR addresses individual questions and practical problems raised by subscribers and other readers. We analyze selected issues, develop solutions, and make the results available to paying subscribers.
A subscription provides more than access to a blog. It offers practical insight into rating systems, methodologies, market developments, and their application to real investment and financing decisions.
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