bank-tier-classification — independently scanned and version-tracked by SaferSkills.
SaferSkills independently audited bank-tier-classification (Agent Skill) and scored it 100/100 (green). The audit ran 55 deterministic rules across Security, Supply Chain, Maintenance, Transparency, and Community; it found 0 high-severity and 0 lower-severity findings. The full rule-by-rule trace and per-finding evidence are below. Free, methodology-open.
Findings & checks · 0 flagged
Every scanned point with the score it earned and what moved between them.
First recorded scan — no prior version to compare against.
The primary manifest — the file an agent reads to learn what this artifact does.
The same filing (424B5, 8-K) means very different things depending on who is selling the shares. A registered direct led by Goldman Sachs is a different animal than an ATM run by a tier-4 specialist. Most quant pipelines ignore the agent identity entirely; this skill restores it as a primary signal.
The placement agent is a leading indicator of the offering's structure, aggression, and post-deal price behavior.
Tier 1 firms protect their reputation and underwrite institutional demand. Tier 4 firms specialize in placing offerings that tier 1 firms will not touch — by definition, those are the harder, more dilutive, more structured deals.
Same form, different agent = different trade.
Global investment banks underwriting at scale. Their participation implies institutional demand and a "blessed" issuer.
Implication when seen on a small-cap filing: rare. If present, the issuer is a real institutional name or has a strategic reason for the relationship. Dilution risk: low to moderate, deal is typically clean.
Quality investment banks with research coverage and institutional distribution. Do legitimate growth-capital raises.
Implication: legitimate growth capital. Often firm-commitment underwritten secondaries, not ATMs. Dilution risk: moderate, predictable.
Reputable smaller banks with niche specialties (biotech, energy, tech). Mix of clean and aggressive deals depending on the issuer.
Implication: mixed bag — read the structure (warrants, discount, ATM language) carefully. The agent identity alone is not decisive at this tier. Dilution risk: moderate to high depending on deal terms.
Firms that specialize in placing offerings for issuers that cannot attract Tier 1–3 underwriting. Heavy concentration in ATMs, registered directs with warrants, ELOCs, and PIPEs. High-volume, high-frequency small-cap deal flow.
by deal count; runs many ATMs)
Implication: when one of these agents appears on a 424B5 or sales agreement, the base rate for: (a) attached warrants, (b) deep discount to last trade, (c) ATM that sells aggressively into intraday strength, (d) repeat dilution within 30–90 days, is materially elevated. Dilution risk: HIGH. Treat the issuer as having a continuous selling pressure floor until the offering is exhausted or terminated.
Tier 1–2 = institutional book. Tier 4 = retail / quant / market-maker absorption with frequent shorting against the cross.
Tier 4 ATMs sell every green tick. Tier 2 underwritten secondaries are one-shot. The agent tier is the strongest predictor of cadence.
Tier 1–2 underwritten secondaries often see post-deal stabilization (the underwriter has incentive to support the price). Tier 4 ATMs have the opposite incentive — keep selling.
Use the LOWEST (most aggressive) tier present. A "Tier 2 + Tier 4" joint placement is dominated by the tier-4 dynamics.
based on observable behavior (ATM frequency, warrant attachment rate, client universe) when in doubt.
market function placing offerings that would otherwise fail. The classification predicts deal behavior, not firm quality.
has shifted across cycles. Re-validate against recent deal flow rather than relying on a frozen list.
registered direct (firm commitment, no warrants, single investor) is much less aggressive than the same agent on an open ATM. Always read the structure alongside the tier.
"specialized in" / "frequently associated with" rather than absolute toxicity claims about specific firms.
secondary; warrants attached; discount to market).
atm-detection if the structure is an ATM,and lookahead-safety for any historical timing claims.
This is not a firm-rating service. It is a heuristic that maps observed firm names to expected deal behavior based on documented patterns of small-cap deal flow. Always combine with structure (atm-detection) and timing (lookahead-safety) for a complete read.
~30 seconds. Free. No account. Every finding cites a rule and a line of evidence.