Credit Ratings

In legal terms, certificates are debt instruments, so the default risk on these securities, as with other debt instruments, depends on the creditworthiness of the issuer. For this reason, the creditworthiness of the issuer should play an important role in the choice of a certificate.

The following table gives an overview of the credit ratings of the rating agencies Moody's and Fitch.

Important note

Please note that the creditworthiness of an issuer is only one of many important criteria to be considered in purchasing a certificate, and should by no means be taken as the only basis for an investment decision. The following information does not constitute investment advice, and should not be taken as either an offer or a recommendation to buy or sell a security from a particular issuer. Nor is this information intended as a substitute for consulting an investment adviser. It is also important not to invest in only one product, but to diversify, in other words to spread the investment widely so that no single investment product within a portfolio is too heavily weighted. Deutscher Derivate Verband is meticulous in its sourcing and presentation of data, but it cannot assume liability for its correctness, completeness, currentness or exactness. The following data do not necessarily relate to the issuers themselves, but may relate to the parent company or the warrantor. Please read the guarantee declaration at the bottom of the page, as well as the footnotes.

1) Barclays Bank PLC is the issuer or guarantor of the certificates issued by Barclays for the German market. For investors, therefore, it is the credit risk of Barclays Bank PLC that is relevant. The credit ratings of the parent company, Barclays PLC, may differ from the credit ratings of Barclays Bank PLC.

2) This issuer’s membership of the joint liability scheme of the German Savings Bank Finance Group (Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe) gives its certificates the special protection of the world's largest finance group. The idea of this system is to safeguard the survival of the affiliated financial institutions and maintain their liquidity and solvency. This is intended to ensure that a financial institution can continue to meet all its liabilities. It means that all claims from every customer, including those from certificates, can be satisfied in full.

3) Citigroup Global Markets Deutschland AG is the issuer of certificates offered to investors by Citigroup Deutschland. It is therefore the default risk of Citigroup Global Markets Deutschland AG that is relevant for investors. The ratings given for the group’s parent company, Citigroup Inc., may be different from those of Citigroup Global Markets Deutschland AG.

4) As partners of the Finance Group, DZ BANK AG and WGZ BANK AG are affiliated to the protection scheme of the National Association of German Cooperative Banks (Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken, BVR). This means the certificates of DZ BANK AG and WGZ BANK AG always have 100 percent protection from the BVR protection scheme, without any cap on the amount.

Guarantees