提高我国信用评级机构公信力所面临的问题及对策

目前,我国信用评级机构提高公信力方面存在的主要问题是:缺乏核心竞争力,收费经营模式存在缺陷,信用评级机构市场有效需求不足,监管和规范评级机构行业的法律法规滞后等。我国应提高信用评级机构的评级质量,加速改造目前存在利益冲突的商业模式,建立规范信用评级机构的监管制度和法律法规,从制度上引导内外评级相结合,刺激市场需求。     

论我国信用评级机构监管制度的完善

信用评级机构作为提供金融产品评判标准的机构,有必要纳入金融监管体系。美国金融危机暴露出在信用评级机构监管方面的弊端。我们应在引以为戒,在市场准入、商业模式、行为规则和法律责任等方面完善监管体系。     

我国评级行业监管体系存在的问题及对策

信用评级作为现代市场经济中社会信用体系的重要组成部分,具有准公共产品特性及内在的利益冲突,因此,仅靠自律及市场机制难以保证评级机构的独立性及评级质量。本文借鉴欧盟做法,分析了目前我国评级业监管中存在的问题,就构建中国特色的评级业监管体系提出对策建议。     

商业银行收费权规制路径探微

近年来我国商业银行陆续推出了各种名目的收费项目,并不断调高收费标准,引发消费者的不满情绪和社会热议。我国现行规则存在疏漏、矛盾,缺乏统一性,使得银行服务收费缺乏规范。商业银行享有必要、合法的收费权,但应对其进行相应规制,可采取如下措施:规范收费行为、提高收费透明度、完善定价机制、强化商业银行的社会责任、加强监管和社会监督、发挥金融行业性自律机构的作用等,从而有效维护金融消费者的合法权益。     

关于我国构建现代化信用评级体系的研究

当前,我国信用评级发展中存在的问题。主要体现在信用评级的认定机构与监管机构混乱,法律体系不健全;评级市场过度竞争,评级机构良莠不齐;国内信用评级市场过度开放,外资对本土评级机构渗透严重等方面。政府应从明确监管机构,构建监管体系;整合现有评级机构,削弱外资股权,加强信用评级本土化、标准化;建立有效的防火墙机制,杜绝违规行为;积极参与国际信用评级事务,推动建立信用评级新秩序等方面入手。构建我国现代化信用评级体系。     

浅析信用评级机构利益冲突

随着目标金融危机和欧洲主权债务危机爆发,现行信用评级体系暴露出诸多问题,尤其是利益冲突日益凸显。文章旨在基于发行人付费模式美国框架下,从职业诚信义务人以及国际法律规制的角度分析利益冲突产生的原因,并提出解决利益冲突问题之道。     

我国信用评级机构是否存在“顺周期”行为?

信用评级制度旨在为投资者提供真实有效的信息,改善市场"信息不对称"问题,从而提升市场的交易效率,但评级的真实性在"发行人"付费模式下有待商榷。基于2010-2017年的信用债券交易数据,本文对信用评级机构的评级结果进行检验,发现信用评级机构在对发行人评定评级时存在"顺周期"行为,即经济繁荣时期评级机构具有高估主体评级的正向"冲动",这一行为在对国有企业、处于高速增长时期的主体以及高偿债能力企业中更为明显;评级市场寡头竞争以及低评级主体的"评级购买"行为,或是推动评级机构高估评级的重要因素。因此,保证信用评级的真实性的关键在于消除评级机构的激励扭曲机制,提升综合信誉机制对评级机构行为的约束,增加评级透明度。     

从欧洲主权债务危机看信用评级机构监管

全球金融危机和欧洲主权债务危机的爆发,让许多国家认识到现行国际评级体系存在的严重问题。长期以来形成的美国评级模式及由其控制的国际评级体系潜藏着巨大的风险。本文提出在此次危机中需要重新审视信用评级业监管中存在的问题,通过对信用评级监管的调整,规范信用评级机构的行为,促进信用评级业重新发挥其金融风险防范的功能。我国应在立足实际的基础上,借鉴国际信用评级业改革的经验,加快现有信用评级机构的整合重组和质量提升。     

宪法第一修正案保护下的美国信用评级机构 ——以司法判例为视角

传统上,美国信用评级机构主张评级报告属于涉及公共利益的意见,援引宪法第一修正案进行抗辩,实际恶意标准是最重要的保护手段。《2010年华尔街改革和消费者保护法》等法律法规的出台反映美国加强评级业监管的理念。虽然美国各级法院做法存在差异,但是现在普遍认为判断信用评级机构能否免责应基于自身在构建商事交易中的作用。作为商业言论的评级报告不一定能适用实际恶意标准,但是可以获得宪法第一修正案对于言论自由的其他保护。美国经验对中国信用评级机构法律责任的构建和司法审判具有借鉴意义。     

公共利益理论视阈下信用评级机构监管问题探讨

一直以来，信用评级机构的监管问题都是以危机事件为诱导的：危机发生前，监管比较宽松；危机发生后，加强监管。信用评级机构更是以其媒介信息、风险预警、监管等功能倍受监管者的青睐。学界对是否需要对信用评级机构进行监管的问题存在较多争议。本文以公共利益理论为基础，对信用评级市场进行分析，发现信用评级市场也存在失灵现象，加强对信用评级机构的监管势在必行。     

The antecedents and consequences of restrictive age-based ratings in the global motion picture industry

This article analyzes one key characteristic shared by a growing number of industries. Specifically, their products and services are continuously monitored and evaluated by local third-party ratings systems. In this study, we focus on understanding the local drivers of restrictive age-based ratings in the motion picture industry and the effect of local ratings on a movie's performance at the box office. The results show that there is a significant negative relationship between restrictive ratings and opening weekend box-office performance. However, we find no significant effect with respect to cumulative box-office performance. In the second part of the study, we focus on the local regulatory system's role as a key driver of restrictive age-based ratings in the motion picture industry. Interestingly, the results suggest that the composition of the board that rates the movie plays a key role. Including pediatrics, psychology, or sociology experts in the evaluation board instead of only parents or laypeople has a strong effect and tends to lead to more lenient rating behavior. In addition, we find that larger ratings boards tend to be more restrictive than smaller ones and that industry representation is not necessarily associated with less restrictive ratings. Countries with cultures characterized as uncertainty avoidant, collective, and feminine also seem to be most lenient in their ratings. The implications of the results are discussed from both international marketing and public policy perspectives.     

Sovereign credit ratings,capital flows and financial sector development in emerging markets

How does the sovereign credit ratings history provided by independent ratings agencies affect domestic financial sector development and international capital inflows to emerging countries? We address this question utilizing a comprehensive dataset of sovereign credit ratings from Standard and Poor's from 1995–2003 for a cross-section of 51 emerging markets. Within a panel data estimation framework, we examine financial sector development and the influence of sovereign credit ratings provision, controlling for various economic and corporate governance factors identified in the financial development literature. We find strong evidence that our sovereign credit rating measures do affect financial intermediary sector developments and capital flows. We find that i) long-term foreign currency sovereign credit ratings are important for encouraging financial intermediary development and for attracting capital flows. ii) Long-term local currency ratings stimulate domestic market growth but discourage international capital flows. iii) Short-term ratings (both foreign and local currency denominated) retard all forms of financial developments and capital flows. There are important implications in this research for policy makers to encourage the provision of longer-term credit ratings to promote financial development in emerging economies.     

Approaching Socially Responsible Investment with a Comprehensive Ratings Scheme: Total Social Impact

The socially responsible investment industry (SRI) is slowly changing from a screening, avoidance paradigm to a comprehensive paradigm that seeks to affect corporate behavior. Credible rating systems are a key component of this sea change. Reliable and recognizable social and environmental metrics are critical to this progress. The Total Social Impact (TSI) rating approach is a new social metric scheme based on a comprehensive rating of stakeholder issues. This paper describes the evolution of SRI ratings and the role that TSI hopes to play in affecting business behavior by promoting principled business leadership.     

Corporate Social Responsibility and Credit Ratings

This study provides evidence on the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firms’ credit ratings. We find that credit rating agencies tend to award relatively high ratings to firms with good social performance. This pattern is robust to controlling for key firm characteristics as well as endogeneity between CSR and credit ratings. We also find that CSR strengths and concerns influence credit ratings and that the individual components of CSR that relate to primary stakeholder management (i.e., community relations, diversity, employee relations, environmental performance, and product characteristics) matter most in explaining firms’ creditworthiness. Overall, our results suggest that CSR performance conveys important non-financial information that rating agencies are likely to use in their evaluation of firms’ creditworthiness, and that CSR investments—particularly those that extend beyond compliance behavior to reflect what is desired by society—can lead to lower financing costs resulting from higher credit ratings.     

A Bi-Directional Examination of the Relationship Between Corporate Social Responsibility Ratings and Company Financial Performance in the European Context

Research focusing on the relationship between measures of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and company financial performance has led to mixed results in the North American context. In addition, the ethical attitudes and approaches toward CSR investments of both companies and rating agencies are not necessarily the same in Europe and the United States. In this study, we use CSR ratings issued by a major European CSR ratings agency (Vigeo) to examine in a bi-directional manner the relationships between CSR ratings and financial performance in the European context. By bi-directional, we mean an examination of the relationship between prior CSR ratings and subsequent accounting and financial performance and reciprocally, the impact of accounting and financial performance of year N ? 1 on CSR ratings of year N. Our principal findings are: (1) the greater the market capitalization of a company, the higher the Vigeo rating, (2) the higher the risk of the company, the lower the Vigeo rating, and (3) the greater the stock market return of a company, the lower the Vigeo rating. Based on these findings, we propose (1) a concept of “political visibility” pursuant to which enterprises of a greater size are exposed to greater pressure to conform to norms of socially acceptable behavior, (2) a concept of “priorities” in which enterprises that have resolved their most urgent financial needs have a greater ability to invest in CSR, (3) a concept of “rating downgrading” which reveals the sanctioning role of the rating agency from an ethical standpoint.     

Collective action clauses: How do they affect sovereign bond yields?

We study the effects of the adoption of collective action clauses (CACs) on government bond yields by exploiting secondary market data on sovereign bonds quoted in international markets from March 2007 to April 2011. CACs are assessed security by security. Using a panel data approach, we find a U-shaped effect of CACs on yields according to the credit rating of the issuer. While the impact is negligible for the highest ratings, a significant yield discount emerges for mid-range ratings, which is smaller for bad ratings and possibly insignificant for the worst ratings. This relationship appears fairly robust across a number of checks. This evidence may reflect the fact that CACs are valuable because they help with orderly restructuring unless the perceived probability of default is too small. Nevertheless, at low ratings, this effect can be weakened by an increasing risk of moral hazard.     

Feedback as a two-way street: when and why rating consumers fails

In efforts to keep ill-behaving consumers in check, managers are increasingly implementing the practice of rating consumers. We develop and test an account of when and why the practice of rating consumers backfires. Study 1 shows that consumers are more likely to misbehave toward service providers after receiving a low rating (versus those who receive a high rating or those who are merely aware that they are being rated). These findings are robust to consumer inexperience. The negative impact of low ratings on subsequent behavior is especially likely to emerge when directed toward consumers (versus service providers; Study 2). Study 3 situates our findings in a real-world context through a survey of Uber customers. Taken together, we offer insight into how firms can realize the benefits of the practice of rating consumers while mitigating its risks.

     

Understanding the sovereign credit ratings of emerging markets

This paper identifies the macroeconomic factors behind the sovereign credit ratings of global emerging markets assigned by Standard and Poor's (S&P). The financial integration and globalization of capital markets have facilitated the capital inflows/outflows among countries. Sovereign credit ratings have served as a signal for countries' economic, financial and political situations. Ratings are very important in the sense that they attract capital inflow and investments. This is especially vital for emerging markets. Although the rating agencies do not explicitly reveal their methodologies, it is possible to guess the effects of several variables on ratings by using various econometric models. Concerning the heavy criticisms on rating agencies' performances, we wish to examine the sovereign credit ratings within a specific country-category. In this essay, we study the effects of macroeconomic factors on the sovereign ratings of emerging markets. Using several approaches, we find that the most relevant factors are Budget Balance/GDP, GDP per capita, Governance Indicators and Reserves/GDP. Moreover, our model predicts up to 93% of all credit rating levels. Interestingly, we obtain that S&P's evaluation of the sovereign credit rating for Turkey performs poorly, especially in the highest rating levels.     

The influence of internet customer reviews on the online sales and prices in hotel industry

In this paper, the impact of two service quality metrics (star rating and customer rating) on hotel room sales and prices is investigated. Two of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, Paris and London, are chosen. It is found that a higher customer rating significantly increases the online sales of hotels. The study results show that a 1% increase in online customer rating increases Sales per Room up to 2.68% in Paris and up to 2.62% in London. Contrary to expectations, higher stars do not increase the sales. It is also shown that higher customer ratings result in higher prices of the hotel and the prices of high star hotels are more sensitive to online customer ratings.     

The effects of sovereign credit rating spillovers on neighbouring countries’ financial markets

This study investigates the spillover effects of long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating announcements on foreign currency-denominated bonds and stock markets in 19 African countries during the period of 1994–2014. Using a combination of Granger causality tests and impulse response function, the results show that there is marginal regional sovereign rating spillover impacts that are quickly absorbed into capital markets trading long-term securities. The analysis further shows marginal spillover effects that persist over longer time periods in sovereign ratings of other countries in the same region from a sovereign rating change in one country. These results imply that the regional bilateral linkages between countries serve as channels of capital and sovereign credit rating information flow. Thus, it is imperative for regional countries to pursue prudent developmental macroeconomic policies to avoid negative ratings that will have regional spillover effects.