LACE Financial specializes in assessing the financial soundness and credit ratings of financial institutions. Founded in 1984, the company has been recognized as an impartial and innovative leader in providing credit rating services for approximately 19,000 domestic and international financial institutions, title insurers, trust preferred security issues, and foreign country sovereign ratings. LACE Financial does not accept compensation for its ratings and is therefore independent and unbiased when assigning bank credit ratings. Typical clients that use LACE Financial’ s credit ratings include cash managers and treasurers of Fortune 500 companies, state municipalities and other government agencies, investment banks and portfolio managers. Each quarter, LACE Financial Corporation provides its clients with up to date credit ratings on all rated institutions.
LACE Financial analysis provides two types of ratings (a) Financial Soundness Ratings which are issued quarterly and (b) New Issue Ratings for debt and securities.
LACE Financial Credit Ratings are a measure of the overall financial condition of an institution and its ability to meet its credit obligations. Over the past twenty plus years, LACE Financial Corporation has issued more than a million financial credit ratings.
A+ and A An institution that has an exceptional financial condition with excellent management, little or no nonperforming assets and is highly capitalised with strong earnings. These grades are the highest level of financial soundness.
B+ An institution with an overall strong financial condition, but not as strong as A+ and A rated companies. The company is most likely to meet its credit obligations under severe economic, financial and business conditions.
B An institution with an adequate financial condition that is likely to be able to meet its credit obligations under severe economic, financial and business conditions.
B- and C+ An institution with an adequate financial condition but is more susceptible to adverse changes in economic conditions that could affect its ability to meet its credit obligations under severe economic, financial or business conditions. These grades are the lowest investment grade ratings.
C and C- An institution whose financial condition is judged to be relatively weak and its ability to meet financial obligations could be affected by adverse economic, financial or business conditions. These grades are considered non-investment grade ratings.
D and E Institutions are likely to have financial problems (poor LACE Financial ratios) and careful consideration should be made about investments in these institutions. These institutions are likely to have a higher probability of failure than institutions with higher ratings. LACE Financial recommends that all credits on D and E rated institutions be secured. These grades are considered non-investment grade ratings.
New banks, less than three years old, are not rated.
LACE Financial has made significant improvements to its products and services, such as, progressing a corporate rating service, and delivering our LACE Credit Ratings through our web-based LACE Monitor system, which is described below.
An efficient and user-friendly online service allowing users to quickly view detailed current and historical financial information, LACE Credit Ratings, and key financial ratios for domestic banks, savings & loans, credit unions, bank holding companies and international banks. In addition, users are able to create and save queries and export information to various file formats. Consultation is included in all subscription fees to provide clients with more information or a better understanding of why a particular institution's credit rating changed. The database program may be used to further classify areas of interest:
Furthermore, the LACE Monitor System is a database program, that enables the user to:
LACE Monitor System data reports can be customized to contain data on banks, savings and loans, and credit unions, and any combination thereof.
This service is currently available in hard copy only and is a quarterly update on the banks and savings & loans that LACE Financial believes has a higher than normal probability of failure. The book includes the institutions of concern which are the approximate bottom fifty banks in terms of financial soundness. In addition, all non-investment grade banks are listed by state along with key financial data and current and historical LACE Credit Ratings.
LACE Financial' s New Issue Rating services are available for subordinated debt securities issued by an individual institution or a pool of trust-preferred securities.
The individual institution reports are designed for clients who require a more comprehensive analysis of a specific institution. Quantitative information is also provided with the report and includes the most recent financial information, key LACE ratios, and current and historical LACE Credit Ratings.
Claims-Paying Ability Rating Service
LACE Financial rates the claims-paying ability of approximately 100 title insurance underwriters in the United States. Title insurance companies are rated semiannually, as their financial condition can be significantly affected by changes in interest rates and economic conditions, as well as fundamental changes within the industry itself.
Commercial Capacity Rating Service
The LACE Commercial Capacity Rating Service for Title Insurers is an independent source of critical information on the capacity of title insurers to write large policies--and to assume reinsurance--in conjunction with major commercial real estate and mortgage lending transactions.
For more information about LACE products please visit the web site at: www.lacefinancial.com or contact LACE Financial directly at:
LACE Financial
Corporation
118 North Court Street
Frederick
MD 21701
USA
Tel: +00 1 301 662 1011
Fax: +00 1 301 662 1458
e-mail:inquiries@lacefinancial.com
