Credit ratings quality: The perceptions of market participants and other interested parties

The global credit crunch of 2008 and related sub-prime mortgage crisis of 2007 have made credit ratings agencies (CRAs) the focus of international attention. In particular, the quality of ratings information and the responsibilities CRAs owe to financial markets have come under intense scrutiny. Specifically, commentators, politicians, and regulators have expressed concern at the involvement CRAs might have had in creating global financial instability. However, the term ratings quality remains largely absent from the academic literature.This paper constructs a measurement instrument to capture ratings quality provided by CRAs, and assesses differences in perceptions of ratings quality amongst four stakeholder groups in public debt markets. Two macro-constructs of ratings quality are identified, labelled Technical Qualities and Relationship Qualities. The two macro-constructs are measured by ten micro-attributes, labelled: Cooperation; Independence; Internal Processes; Issuer Orientation; Methodology; Reputation; Service Quality; Shared Values and Norms; Transparency; and Trust. Each micro-attribute is operationalised into individual items, and then empirically tested using data obtained in the UK from 121 issuers, 75 non-debt issuing financial managers, 90 investors, and 120 other interested parties.The data suggest that ratings quality involves, in order of importance: the CRA's reputation; those values and norms of the CRA shared by users; the methodologies employed by the CRA; the independence of the CRA; and internal processes within the CRA. Multivariate analysis of variance finds no statistically significant variation between the groups for Technical Qualities factors. However, issuers rate Relationship Qualities and its micro-attributes of Trust, Issuer Orientation, and Service Quality higher than other market participants; a finding that reflects the dyadic relationship between the issuer's treasurer and lead analyst of the CRA. The paper concludes with a number of policy-relevant issues.     

Credit ratings and the cross-section of stock returns

Low credit risk firms realize higher returns than high credit risk firms. This is puzzling because investors seem to pay a premium for bearing credit risk. The credit risk effect manifests itself due to the poor performance of low-rated stocks (which account for 4.2% of total market capitalization) during periods of financial distress. Around rating downgrades, low-rated firms experience considerable negative returns amid strong institutional selling, whereas returns do not differ across credit risk groups in stable or improving credit conditions. The evidence for the credit risk effect points towards mispricing generated by retail investors and sustained by illiquidity and short sell constraints.     

Understanding credit ratings quality: Evidence from UK debt market participants

This study seeks to identify: (i) the demand for corporate bond ratings provided by credit ratings agencies (CRAs); (ii) how issuers select CRAs; and (iii) to better understand ratings quality, a term widely used by commentators, politicians and regulators, but under-explored in the academic literature. Interviews identify the principal source of demand for rating information is to reduce agency conflicts between issuers and investors. Issuers typically engage between one and three credit ratings agencies to rate their debt, implying a heterogeneous demand for ratings services, and different levels of ratings quality. However, ratings quality extends beyond competence and independence to include factors relating to professional judgment, communication, transparency, and the quality and continuity of analytic staff. Findings were discussed in the light of the ongoing international policy debate concerning CRAs.     

Market Segmentation Effects in Corporate Credit Rating Changes: The Case of Emerging Markets

We examine stock market reactions to corporate credit rating changes in 26 emerging market countries included in the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Emerging Market Index. We hypothesize and test the notion that emerging market firms in the American Depository Receipts (ADRs) markets are more likely to purchase ratings from the Big Two (Moody’s and S&P), and that they react more strongly to the announcements of corporate rating changes by Moody’s or S&P than to those of raters in local markets. We compare the effect of credit rating changes of the Big Two in two emerging stock markets: local markets (local currencies) and ADR markets (U.S. dollars). We find significant price reactions in the ADR markets, and insignificant reactions in local markets, and conclude that there is capital market segmentation in ADR markets for credit rating changes of emerging market firms. We find evidence that investors react more strongly in the ADR markets than local markets because they require higher costs of capital for firms cross-listed both in the ADR markets and local markets due to greater expected bankruptcy costs and foreign exchange risks of those firms. We also report that stock markets react significantly, not only to rating downgrades, but also to upgrades in the ADR markets.

CDOs and the financial crisis: Credit ratings and fair premia

We study risk and return characteristics of CDOs using the market standard models. We find that fair spreads on CDO tranches are much higher than fair spreads on similarly-rated corporate bonds. Our results imply that credit ratings are not sufficient for pricing, which is surprising given their central role in structured finance markets. This illustrates limitations of the rating methodologies that are solely based on real-world default probabilities or expected losses and do not capture risk premia. We also demonstrate that CDO tranches have large exposure to systematic risk and thus their ratings and prices are likely to decline substantially when credit conditions deteriorate.     

Credit ratings and IPO pricing

We examine the effects of credit ratings on IPO pricing. The evidence from U.S. common share IPOs during 1986–2004 shows that when firms go public, those with credit ratings are underpriced significantly less than firms without credit ratings. Credit rating levels, however, do not have a significant effect on IPO underpricing. The existence of credit rating reduces uncertainty about firm value. It is the value certainty that matters, not the value per se. Credit ratings also reduce the degree of price revision during the bookbuilding process and the aftermarket volatility in the post-IPO period. The evidence suggests that credit ratings convey useful information in reducing value uncertainty of the issuing firms as well as information asymmetry in the IPO markets.     

Recent Developments in Credit Markets

We summarize recent developments in the credit derivative markets. We show the role of dependence between individual debtors in portfolio derivatives in a study of implied correlation. The risk of changing dependence structures between stock and bond markets becomes evident in an example of capital structure arbitrage. How credit derivatives can introduce new risks is illustrated by the example of “overlay” in basket derivatives.     

The role of credit ratings on capital structure and its speed of adjustment: an international study

Using an international dataset, we examine the role of issuers’ credit ratings in explaining corporate leverage and the speed with which firms adjust toward their optimal level of leverage. We find that, in countries with a more market-oriented financial system, the impact of credit ratings on firms’ capital structure is more significant and that firms with a poorer credit rating adjust more rapidly. Furthermore, our results show some striking differences in the speed of adjusting capital structure between firms rated as speculative and investment grade, with the former adjusting much more rapidly. As hypothesized, those differences are statistically significant only for firms based in a more market-oriented economy.     

中国信用风险缓释工具创新试点最新进展

信用风险缓释工具（CRM）是2010年我国债券市场最重要的信用风险管理创新工具,它将短期融资券、中期票据等信用类债券的信用风险剥离定价,并转移给愿意承担风险的投资者。本文通过对CRM试点过程中存在的投资主体单一、市场机制不完善及外部环境建设滞后等问题进行了深度剖析,并有针对性地从投资者培育、信用评级与定价、做市商机制、交易信息披露、信用事件处理、以及监管会计税收法律制度建设等方面提出政策建议,以利于CRM市场的可持续发展。     

Do asset backed securities ratings matter on average?

This paper assesses the impact of asset backed ratings on the Merrill Lynch US Asset Backed Securities and Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities Index (CABs index) over a period January 1998 through to February 2010. In particular, we examine the relationship between ratings changes of the asset backed securities and the CABS index return. We further investigate how macroeconomic variables affect the relation between change in ratings and the CABS index return. We find that on their own, ratings of assets backed securities do matter to the CABS index return. However, controlling for economic factors appears to reduce the impact of the ratings changes on the CABS index return.     

Credit derivatives, capital requirements and opaque OTC markets

In this paper we study the optimal design of credit derivative contracts when banks have private information about their ability in the loan market and are subject to capital requirements. First, we prove that when banks are subject to a maximum loss capital requirement the optimal signaling contract is a binary credit default basket. Second, we show that if credit derivative markets are opaque then banks cannot commit to terminal-date risk exposure, and therefore the optimal signaling contract is more costly. The above results allow us to discuss the potential implications of different capital adequacy rules for the credit derivative markets.     

Credit agency regulation and the impact of credit ratings in the international bond market

The use of credit ratings in financial and other legal documents — both in the USA and Europe —, has led to a situation in which the major rating agencies have become (largely unwilling) participants in the legislative process. This situation has become partly formalized in the US (and is being repeated elsewhere in the European Union, Eastern Europe and Latin America) through the creation of officially ‘recognized’ agencies whose ratings now carry the imprimatur of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the debate on the necessity for formal legal status to be sustained in the market for bond credit ratings. In this context, the criteria for a credible rating agency are examined and evidence is provided on one element of the criteria which is under-researched: namely, the impact of the ratings in the market place. The influence of rating agencies in international capital markets is assessed through an analysis of the impact of ratings on the yields of bonds, represented by a comprehensive sample of actively traded debt. The sample contains analysis of ratings introductions on both new and seasoned debt and also examines the impact of ratings revisions. It is concluded that official recognition has no market-based role and it is argued that ratings are used by regulators because of the success of the major agencies in performing their market function.     

浅议佳木斯市农村信用社资本管理

本文分析了辖区农村信用社资本结构以及资本管理现状,同时对资本管理现状产生的原因进行了分析,在此基础上,提出完善资本管理的对策.     

Time series patterns in credit ratings

This article offers a substitute setting to simulate credit rating migrations. The internal correlations model tracks time-series movements within credit rating entries, rather than cross-ratings correlations. The proposed nonhomogeneous process is authenticated through the likelihood ratio Dickey–Fuller test, and is found to be statistically and economically significant, by better fitting observed cumulative default rates. Several nonlinear regression models assist to better identify these time-related patterns. The economic structure underlying the time dependency often corresponds to changes in GDP, business cycles, and market risk. Furthermore, significant positive autocorrelation is detected mostly among downgrade probabilities.     

信用集中风险研究新进展

历史经验显示,信用集中风险是造成银行危机的一个主要原因,因此,在目前我国信贷快速膨胀、信用集中风险显著加剧的背景下,急需加强对我国商业银行信用集中风险的研究.然而,目前国内研究仍停留于定性分析阶段.鉴于此,本文从信用集中风险的监管要求,信用集中风险测量的理论分析和实证研究三方面对国外信用集中风险及经济资本测度模型的研究进行了述评,以期为提高我国商业银行信用集中风险的测量水平,构建与BasPl Ⅱ一致条件下的经济资本测度模型,从而为提高我国商业银行的信用风险管理能力提供一定的参考.     

The effect of additional guidance on fair value measurement and disclosure in illiquid or inactive markets

This paper examines fair value accounting – specifically, the application of FASB FSP 157-4 in the US. Data is analyzed from financial firms before and after FSP 157-4 was implemented to examine how this standard changed fair valuations and disclosures. We consider whether managers took advantage of the flexibility in the new standard by classifying their assets at level 3. We find that there is no significant change in the amount of assets that are transferred into level 3 after FSP 157-4 as compared to before. We also find a significant increase in the extent of disclosures as measured by word count. Fair value disclosures increased by an average of 52%. After further partitioning the sample based on size, we find that both main results hold for small and big firms in our additional sample. There is no evidence managers used the flexibility of the new standard to classify more financial assets at level 3; however, managers responded to the new standard with a significantly longer disclosure.     

美国信用评级市场与监管变迁及其借鉴

美国信用评级业发展已经有上百年的历史。市场高度垄断、严重的"顺周期"现象、利益冲突、金融市场及监管当局对评级的严重依赖是当今美国信用评级市场存在的四大问题。目前美国信用评级业形成了以行业自律为基础、NRSRO注册与美国证券交易委员会(SEC)直接监管相结合的信用评级监管体系。美国信用评级市场发展及监管变迁对我国的启示是:应逐步打破国际评级市场完全由美国评级机构垄断的现有格局,必须逐步构建有中国自身特色的本土评级体系,并将本土评级体系的培育与国内债券市场建设、"走出去"战略及人民币国际化战略结合起来,降低国内监管部门及市场主体对外部评级机构的依赖。     

Entry and capital structure mimicking in concentrated markets: The role of incumbents’ financial disclosures

We examine whether the public availability of product market incumbents' financial disclosures leads to greater capital structure mimicking of incumbents by entrants. Exploiting a change in disclosure enforcement for German private firms in the mid-2000s, we find entrant-incumbent mimicking rises substantially in concentrated markets once incumbents' financial statements are publicly available. Additional tests exploring potential mechanisms are more consistent with interfirm learning underlying the effect than alternative channels. Our findings shed light on the effects of competitor financial statement disclosure on private firms’ initial financing decisions and highlight how capital structure dependencies among peer firms arise.     

经济学层面上的道德、信任、信用与征信

道德、信任、信用与征信这四个概念被相继引入经济学研究中经历了一个渐进的过程,四者之间存在相辅相成、共同促进、相互影响的作用与反作用的关系.道德规范是形成全社会共同遵守的价值观的基础,信任是除物质资本和人力资本之外决定一个国家经济增长和社会进步的主要社会资本,信用是商业交易的前提,是维系社会经济正常关系的纽带,而征信是对受信人信用状况的一个全面了解和高度概括,据此建立的奖惩机制能为良好的社会信用状态形成打下基础.