Morningstar DBRS is a global credit rating agency with offices in

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, New York,

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Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

and

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. Morningstar DBRS provides independent credit rating services for financial institutions, corporate and sovereign entities and structured finance products and instruments. It was originally founded as Dominion Bond Rating Service in Toronto in 1976, and its operations were integrated with Morningstar Credit Ratings to form Morningstar DBRS after its acquisition by the global financial services firm Morningstar, Inc. in 2019. It is the largest rating agency in Canada. Morningstar DBRS is the fourth-largest credit rating agency by global market share, with between 2% and 3% of global market share. The company is one of only four CRAs, including

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, and

Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings Inc. is an American credit rating agency. It is one of the three nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSRO) designated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and is considered as being one of the " Bi ...

, to be recognized as an external credit assessment institution by the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...

(ECB). In recent years, Morningstar DBRS' sovereign ratings on European nations, including Portugal, Ireland and Italy, were used by the ECB for such purposes.

History

The company was founded by Walter Schroeder, who started the company in a small office in Toronto with less than $1,000. Schroeder and his family later sold the company to

The Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group Inc. is an American multinational company with operations in private equity, alternative asset management and financial services. As of 2023, the company had $426 billion of assets under management. Carlyle specializes in ...

and Warburg Pincus. DBRS opened offices in Chicago and New York in 2003. After changing its name from Dominion Bond Rating Service to DBRS in 2008, the organization opened its current office in London in 2010, an office in Frankfurt in 2018, and an office in Madrid in 2019. On May 29, 2019, Morningstar, Inc. announced their acquisition of DBRS in an approximately $700 million cash and stock transaction. The takeover closed on July 2, 2019.

Corporate structure and regulation

DBRS Limited is the operating company in Canada. DBRS, Inc. is the operating company in the United States. DBRS Ratings Limited is the operating entity based in London and is home to the agency's broader European operations. DBRS Ratings GmbH is the German operating unit and DBRS Ratings GmbH, Sucursal en España is the operating company in Spain. In Canada, Morningstar DBRS is regulated through the Canadian Securities Administrators and its principal regulator is the OSC. In the United States, Morningstar DBRS is regulated by the

Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

. In Europe, Morningstar DBRS is regulated by ESMA and the FCA.

References

{{Authority control Financial services companies of Canada Credit rating agencies Financial services companies established in 1976 1976 establishments in Ontario 2019 mergers and acquisitions The Carlyle Group companies Warburg Pincus companies