Recognition versus disclosure of finance leases: Evidence from Japan

This study examines whether credit market participants—bond investors and credit rating agencies—treat recognized and disclosed finance leases differently when assessing firms’ credit risk in Japan. I use firms’ credit risk, measured by bond spreads and credit ratings, to investigate the relations between recognized versus disclosed finance lease obligations and firms’ credit risk following the adoption of Statement No. 13, Accounting Standard for Lease Transactions. For a sample of firms issuing new bonds, I find that, unlike recognized finance leases, disclosed finance leases are not associated with bond spreads. Moreover, the associations between recognized versus disclosed finance leases and bond spreads are substantially different. Conversely, recognized and disclosed finance leases are associated with credit ratings and are processed similarly when credit ratings are determined. Taken together, my results suggest that the sophistication of capital market participants influences their credit risk assessments of recognized versus disclosed finance leases.     

Non-rating revenue and conflicts of interest

Rating agencies produce ratings used by investors, but obtain most of their revenue from issuers, leading to a conflict of interest. We employ a unique data set on the use of non-rating services, and the associated payments, in India, to test if this conflict affects ratings quality. Agencies rate issuers that pay them for non-rating services higher (than agencies not hired for such services). Such issuers also have higher default rates. Both effects are increasing in the amount paid. These results suggest that issuers which hire agencies for non-rating services receive higher ratings despite having higher default risk.     

Are Fundamentals Priced in the Bond Market?*

To date, the discussion of the Lev and Thiagarajan 1993 fundamentals in the prior literature has been exclusively in the context of the stock market. Our study is the first to examine the value‐relevance of these fundamentals for default risk. By focusing on the market for new bond issues, we examine the value‐relevance of the fundamental score using expected rather than realized returns. Also, by focusing on the bond market we provide a different perspective than that brought by prior studies relying solely on stock prices. We find the fundamentals to be priced in the market for new bond issues as indicators of expected future earnings and to be value‐relevant in enabling the market to discern differences in bond credit quality over and above the published bond ratings.     

2005年国际金融市场回顾与2006年展望

2005年的国际金融市场走势跌宕起伏,股票市场表现不一,债券市场基本上是区间波动走势,外汇市场美元一枝独秀,石油价格冲高回落而黄金的表现也引人注目。决定市场走势的因素是美国经济表现稳健,欧、日经济相形见绌,同时美国利率持续上升。2006年受房地产市场降温的影响,美国经济可能温和放缓,利率很快见顶,将对金融市场产生重大影响,总体而言风险加大。     

国外资信评级的相关研究述评

国外资信评级机构已经存续了近百年,在资本市场上发挥着重要的作用。关于资信评级的研究也已积累了丰富的成果,内容涉及资信评级的作用、决定因素、信息价值以及级别的可比性一致性等。文章回顾并评论了国外有关资信评级的研究成果,并在此基础上提出了我国资信评级的理论研究应关注的问题。     

企业债券融资的比较优势与实证分析

为稳步推进资本市场改革开放和稳定发展，我国明确了大力发展企业债券市场的目的与总体方案，但市场状况仍不尽如人意。本文在分析西方企业融资理论的基础上，归纳了企业债券融资的相对优势，并结合中国融资市场的现状进行了实证研究，实证结果表明，中国上市公司企业债券融资的成本优势并不显著，但融资“信号”传递作用明显。     

Pro-cyclical effect of sovereign rating changes on stock returns: a fact or factoid?

This article examines the effect of changes in sovereign credit ratings and their outlook on the stock market returns of European countries at different phases of business cycle. Using standard four-factor model, it records a significant average marginal effect of credit rating announcements on stock market returns. Both magnitude and significance of the effect vary with business cycle and across announcement types. However, we do not find evidence of pro-cyclical effect of sovereign rating and outlook changes on stock returns. Our results show that stock markets react more negatively to rating downgrades in recovery phases and more positively to rating upgrades in contractionary period. Both results are statistically significant and robust to various sensitivity tests.     

中国债券市场发展评析

经过多年的艰辛努力，2002年，我国全国统一、多层次、面向各类经济主体的具有中国特色的债券市场框架基本形成，银行间、柜台和交易所三个债券子市场各有侧重、相互连通和互动。本从债券市场机制和框架形成角度，对我国债券市场10余年的发展轨迹进行了全面回顾和分析。在此基础上，对我国债券市场进一步深化发展提出了若干建议。     

可转债分拆交易研究——台湾经验借鉴与国内创新

本文旨在对可转债分拆交易的理论研究和台湾实践经验进行梳理的基础上,为国内可转债分拆的交易框架和定价设计提供借鉴。本文的结构安排如下:首先,对可转债分拆交易的相关文献进行综述;其次,阐述可转债分拆的交易结构与理论定价;再次,介绍台湾可转债分拆交易的现实定价与法律框架;最后,结合国内的发展现状,提出国内可转债分拆交易的相关制度设计框架,并给出了进一步的政策建议。