Rating and Investment Information, Inc.

Rating and Investment Information, Inc. (R&I) is a Japanese financial information and analysis company whose roots trace to a corporate bond research group established within Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) in 1975. Its present corporate form emerged from the 1998 merger of the Japan Bond Rating Institute (Nihon Kōshasai Kenkyūjo, or NIS in the supplied history) and Japan Investors Service. The company adopted its current name in 2000. The supplied German-language reference describes it as part of the Nikkei Group; the supplied official excerpts identify the operating company as 株式会社格付投資情報センター. R&I’s best-known business is credit rating. Its ratings and related analysis cover corporate and financial-sector issuers, structured finance and asset-backed securities, among other areas. The company also offers sustainable and ESG finance assessments, including second opinions and other forms of external review. Its published services include investment advisory and evaluation work for institutional investors and financial institutions, including pension-fund and investment-trust-related services. The company distributes specialist credit research and rating-related information through Credit Express and maintains a bond-rating database that, according to its website, is updated through financial information vendors’ terminals. It also publishes or has published sector-focused information products and established the R&I Fund Award. The business therefore combines analytical and assessment services with subscription information and investment evaluation rather than being limited to assigning ratings. R&I is based in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and its official access page lists an overseas office in Hong Kong. Its history records cooperation with overseas financial institutions and recognition by regulators in Japan and elsewhere for specified regulatory purposes. Its current website presents credit ratings, sustainable and ESG finance, investment evaluation, and paid rating information as central service areas. The supplied evidence does not establish detailed ownership percentages, current management beyond a reported 2025 president appointment, or a complete list of its present operating markets.

R&I’s institutional roots lie in Japan’s bond research and rating-information field. In March 1975, the history published on the company website records that Nihon Keizai Shimbun established an internal Public and Corporate Bond Research Group. In April 1979, the newspaper established the voluntary organization Japan Bond Rating Institute (Nihon Kōshasai Kenkyūjo, abbreviated as NIS in the supplied company timeline). The institute began issuing a country-risk newsletter in 1982. In April 1985, Japan Investors Service (NIS, as rendered in the company timeline) was established with investment from bank- and securities-affiliated research organizations, while the bond research institute became a corporation. The two organizations developed complementary rating and information activities. In 1987, both were selected by the Ministry of Finance as rating agencies whose ratings could be used for eligibility standards on bond issuance. The bond institute expanded into pension asset management evaluation in 1991, and the organizations began supplying a bond-rating database in 1994. Japan Investors Service rated its first collateralized loan obligation in 1995; the bond institute rated its first asset-backed securities transaction in 1996. In April 1998, the bond institute and Japan Investors Service merged to form Japan Rating and Investment Information Center. The merged business also began investment trust management evaluation. In 2000, it changed its name to Rating and Investment Information Center, the name from which the R&I abbreviation derives. The company launched paid online services Credit Express and Web Pension Information in 2001, followed by fund credit ratings in 2002. Its rating coverage subsequently expanded to educational corporations, J-REITs, syndicated loans, and medium-sized companies. The company also began the R&I Fund Award in 2007. R&I developed its regulatory and international standing over time. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority recognized it as an eligible rating institution for Basel II in 2006, followed by the Japanese Financial Services Agency in 2007 and Bank Negara Malaysia in 2008. In September 2010, R&I registered with Japan’s Financial Services Agency as a credit rating agency. The supplied German-language reference additionally says that R&I was recognized by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission as a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization in 2007; this detail is not present in the supplied company timeline. From the 2010s onward, the company extended its work into renewable-energy project finance and sustainable finance. It issued its first rating for solar-power project finance in 2014 and provided a green-bond assessment for the first green bond issued by a Japanese operating company in 2016. In 2017 it signed the PRI credit rating statement and announced a service evaluating investment-trust distributors from a customer-interest perspective. It launched a green-bond second-opinion service in 2018, supported a Japanese corporate sustainability bond with a second opinion in 2019, and began social-bond opinions that year. In 2021 it published a transition-finance evaluation methodology, became an approved verifier for the Climate Bonds Initiative, and provided a second opinion for positive impact finance. It later provided a second opinion on blue finance and in 2022 endorsed Japan’s code of conduct for ESG evaluation and data providers. The company announced a refreshed customer-oriented financial-sales evaluation in 2023. Company notices also record a sustainability committee and transition strategy in 2023 and a new management structure in 2025. Its official site continues to present credit ratings, sustainable and ESG finance, investment evaluation, and paid rating information as its principal service areas.

• 2025

  Company notice reported Yoshida’s promotion to president

• 2023

  Renewed its customer-oriented financial sales company evaluation

• 2022

  Provided a blue-finance second opinion and endorsed the ESG evaluation and data-provider code of conduct

• 2021

  Published transition-finance methodology, became a CBI-approved verifier, and provided a positive-impact-finance second opinion

• 2019

  Provided a second opinion for a Japanese corporate sustainability bond and launched social-bond opinions

• 2018

  Green-bond second-opinion service launched

• 2017

  Signed the PRI credit rating statement and announced customer-oriented investment trust distributor evaluation

• 2016

  First R&I green-bond assessment for a Japanese operating company’s green bond

• 2014

  First rating for solar-power project finance

• 2010

  R&I registered as a credit rating agency with Japan’s Financial Services Agency

• 2007

  Japan’s Financial Services Agency recognized R&I for Basel II purposes; R&I Fund Award was created

• 2006

  Hong Kong Monetary Authority recognized R&I for Basel II purposes

• 2002

  Fund credit ratings began

• 2001

  Credit Express and Web Pension Information launched as paid online services

• 2000

  The company adopted the Rating and Investment Information Center name

• 1998

  The organizations merged to form Japan Rating and Investment Information Center

• 1996

  The bond institute rated its first ABS transaction

• 1995

  Japan Investors Service rated its first CLO

• 1994

  Bond rating database provision began

• 1991

  Pension asset management evaluation began

• 1987

  Both organizations were selected by the Ministry of Finance as rating agencies usable for bond eligibility standards

• 1985

  Japan Investors Service was established and the bond institute became a corporation

• 1979

  Japan Bond Rating Institute was established

• 1975

  Nikkei established an internal bond research group

An independent-style specialist financial assessment and information provider, positioned around credit analysis, ratings, sustainable finance evaluation, and investment research services for capital-market participants and institutional clients.

• Credit ratings

  Ratings and related analysis for corporate and financial issuers and structured finance.

• Sustainable and ESG finance assessments

  Assessment and second-opinion services for sustainable finance, including green, social, transition, and positive-impact finance.

• Investment evaluation and consulting

  Asset-management consulting and investment trust evaluation for institutional investors and financial institutions.

• Credit Express

  Paid online service distributing rating-related research and information.

• R&I Fund Award

  Fund award program established by R&I in 2007.

• Renamed from Japan Rating and Investment Information Center to Rating and Investment Information CenterOther

• Registered as a credit rating agency with Japan’s Financial Services AgencyOther

• Published its transition-finance evaluation methodologyOther

• Endorsed the code of conduct for ESG evaluation and data providersOther

1. 1格付投資情報センター — official homepager-i.co.jp
2. 2沿革 — 格付投資情報センターr-i.co.jp
3. 3会社情報 — 格付投資情報センターr-i.co.jp
4. 4アクセス — 格付投資情報センターr-i.co.jp
5. 5Kakuzuke Tōshi Jōhō Center — German Wikipediade.wikipedia.org
6. 6Rating and Investment Informationwikidata.org