scholarly journals ESG as a Measure of Credit Ratings

Risks ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 226
Author(s):  
Patrycja Chodnicka-Jaworska
Keyword(s):  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Credit Rating ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Credit Ratings ◽  
Stock Exchanges ◽  
Credit Rating Agencies ◽  
Rating Agencies ◽  
Thomson Reuters ◽  
Rating Changes ◽  
The Impact

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) measures on credit ratings given to non-financial institutions by the largest credit rating agencies according to economic sector divisions. The hypotheses were as follows: a strong negative impact on non-financial institutions’ credit rating changes will result from ESG risk changes, and the reaction of credit rating changes will vary in different sectors. Panel event models were used to verify these hypotheses. The study used data from the Thomson Reuters Database for the period 2010–2020. The analysis was based on the literature on credit rating determinants and on papers and reports on COVID-19, ESG factors, and their impact on credit rating changes. Linear decomposition was used for the analysis. To verify these hypotheses, long-term issuer credit ratings presented by Moody’s and Fitch for European companies listed on these stock exchanges have been used. In the analyses, financial and non-financial factors were also considered. The results suggested that, within the last year, the methodology presented by credit rating agencies has changed, and ESG factors are one of the basic measures that are used to verify credit rating changes, especially those related to the pandemic.

scholarly journals Wpływ COVID-19 na nastawienie i credit ratingi krajów

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 535-564
Author(s):  
Patrycja Chodnicka-Jaworska
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Foreign Currency ◽  
Credit Rating ◽  
Credit Ratings ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Rating Agencies ◽  
Thomson Reuters ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The International Monetary Fund

Covid-19 Impact on Countires’ Outlooks and Credit Ratings The aim of the study is to examine the impact of the financial crisis caused by COVID-19 on chang­es in outlooks and credit ratings of major rating agencies. The research hypothesis was as follows: the financial crisis caused by COVID-19 negatively affected the change in outlooks and credit ratings of countries. The study used long-term and short-term credit ratings and outlooks collected from the Thomson Reuters / Refinitiv database regarding liabilities expressed in foreign currency and macroeconomic data from the International Monetary Fund databases, for 2010–2021. The analysis was carried out using ordered logit panel models. The presented results showed a weak significant im­pact of the COVID-19 pandemic on credit rating. The agency that changed its notes in connection with this situation is Standard & Poor’s (S&P). However, the attitude responded to the situation un­der investigation. During the crisis, country ratings have become less sensitive to growing debt, which may be dictated by widespread loosening of fiscal policy. The rate of GDP growth has a par­ticular impact during the COVID-19 period in the event of a change of outlook. Rising inflation is particularly dangerous in the age of pandemics. It may be related to monetary policy easing.

The relevance of credit ratings over the business cycle

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-168
Author(s):  
Christian Fieberg ◽  
Richard Lennart Mertens ◽  
Thorsten Poddig
Keyword(s):  
Business Cycle ◽  
Agency Costs ◽  
Credit Rating ◽  
Credit Ratings ◽  
Credit Rating Agencies ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Rating Agencies ◽  
The Business Cycle ◽  
Rating Changes

Purpose Credit market models and the microstructure theory of the ratings market suggest that information provided by credit rating agencies becomes more relevant in recessions when agency costs are high and less relevant in expansions when agency costs are low. The purpose of this paper is to empirically test these hypotheses with regard to equity markets. Design/methodology/approach The authors use business cycle identification algorithms to map rating events (credit rating changes and watchlist inclusions) to business cycle phases and apply the event study methodology. The results are backed by cross-sectional regressions using a variety of control variables. Findings The authors find that the relevance of information provided by credit rating agencies for equity prices heavily depends on the level of agency costs. Furthermore, the authors detect a “flight-to-quality” during recessions in the speculative grade segment and a weakened relevance of rating events in expansions in the investment grade segment. Originality/value This paper is the first to empirically analyse how equity investors perceive credit rating changes and watchlist inclusions over the business cycle. In the empirical analysis, the authors use a large sample of about 25,000 rating events in all Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development markets. The presented results underline that credit ratings address the agency problem in financial markets and can thus be regarded as useful for risk management or regulation.

scholarly journals Sovereign credit ratings and CDS spreads in Emerging Europe

Equilibrium ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-438
Author(s):  
Łukasz Dopierała ◽  
Daria Ilczuk ◽  
Liwiusz Wojciechowski
Keyword(s):  
Financial Markets ◽  
Credit Rating ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Credit Ratings ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Credit Rating Agencies ◽  
Rating Agencies ◽  
Sovereign Credit ◽  
Sovereign Credit Ratings ◽  
The Impact

Research background: Sovereign credit ratings play an important role in determining any country’s access to the international debt market. During the global financial crisis and the European debt crisis, credit rating agencies were harshly criticized for the timing of their announcements regarding ratings downgrades and the ranges of those downgrades. Therefore, it is worth considering whether the sovereign credit rating is still a useful benchmark for investors. Purpose of the article: This article examines whether credit rating agencies still provide financial markets with new information about the solvency of governments in Emerging Europe countries. In addition, it describes the differences in the effect of particular types of rating events on financial markets and the impact of individual agencies on the market situation. Our study also focuses on evaluating these occurrences at different stages of the business cycle. Methods: This article uses data about ratings events that took place between 2008 and 2018 in 17 Emerging Europe economies. We took into consideration positive, neutral, and negative events related to ratings changes and the outlooks reported by Fitch Ratings, Moody’s, and Standard & Poor’s. We used a methodology based on event studies. In addition, we performed Wilcoxon signed-ranks test and used a logit model to determine the usefulness of cumulative adjusted credit default swap (CDS) spread changes in predicting the direction of ratings changes. Findings & Value added: Our research provides evidence that the CDS market reflects information regarding government issuers up to three months before ratings downgrades are announced. Information reported to the market by ratings agencies is only relevant in the short timeframe surrounding ratings downgrades and upgrades. However, positive credit rating changes convey more information to the market. We also found strong evidence that, in the post-crisis period, credit ratings provide markets with less information.

scholarly journals Impacts of credit rating changes on stock returns

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pham Quynh Chau ◽  
Nguyen Thu Hien
Keyword(s):  
Market Efficiency ◽  
Stock Returns ◽  
Stock Prices ◽  
Credit Rating ◽  
Credit Ratings ◽  
Stock Exchanges ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Stock Market Efficiency ◽  
Rating Changes ◽  
The Impact

This paper studies the impact of credit ratings issued by CIC, a Vietnamese local rating agency, on stock returns of listed companies on the Vietnamese stock exchanges in the period of 2007-2010. The findings of the study confirm the assertions of the previous researches by Holthausen and Leftwich (1986), Hand, Holthausen and Leftwich (1992), Chan and Poor (2008). Specifically, CIC’s credit ratings slightly affect the stock prices of the listed firms, an evidence supporting CIC’s role and its rating quality to a certain extent. This paper also confirms semi-strong form of the Vietnamese stock market efficiency.

scholarly journals Analysis of Determinants of Split Ratings and Rating Conservativeness between Japanese and US Credit Rating Agencies

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshiki Shimizu ◽  
Junghee Lee ◽  
Hideki Takei
Keyword(s):  
Credit Rating ◽  
Multivariate Regression Analysis ◽  
Credit Rating Agencies ◽  
Bond Ratings ◽  
Rating Agencies ◽  
Thomson Reuters ◽  
Asset Liquidity ◽  
The Us ◽  
Japanese Companies ◽  
Split Ratings

In the previous paper, we confirmed the existence of the split ratings between Japanese and US credit rating agencies (CRAs). Our study did not support early studies suggesting that the split ratings were merely random occurrences. Rather, our findings suggested that the split ratings occurring between Japanese and US CRAs were not random and frequently occurring. The Japanese CRA assigned less conservative ratings than the US CRAs. In this paper, we performed the multivariate regression analysis to find variables which would differentiate the degree of rating conservativeness. Our samples were 192 Japanese companies which were assigned their ratings by Japanese and US credit rating agencies. We used 10-year bond ratings of these companies from 2000 and 2009. Our data sources were Nikkei NEEDS-Financial Quest for Japanese ratings and financial information and Thomson Reuters Datastream for US ratings. All financial data of the 192 firms were collected from Nikkei NEEDS-Financial Quest. According to our findings, Japanese agency seems to put higher weight on ROA than US agencies while all agencies seem to use variables such as asset, liquidity, and leverage to assign ratings. We assume that this is the main variable that has differentiated the degree of rating conservativeness.

scholarly journals Does the Financial Status of Company Affect the Bond Credit Rating? ——Empirical Evidence from China's Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuyan Cai
Keyword(s):  
Credit Rating ◽  
Credit Ratings ◽  
Corporate Bonds ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Corporate Bond ◽  
Stock Exchanges ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Financial Status ◽  
Financial Variables ◽  
The Impact

This article takes the companies that publicly issued corporate bonds on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2006 to 2018 as the research objects selecting six aspects that comprehensively reflect the 17 financial variables in 6 aspects: profitability, operating ability, bond repayment ability, development ability, cash flow and market value of the company. Principal component analysis method and factor analysis method are used to extract the principal factors of these financial indicator variables. That is how an ordered multi-classification Logistic regression model is constructed to test the impact of the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges’ financial status on the corporate bond credit rating. It turns out that the financial status of the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges have an important impact on the credit rating of corporate bonds. The financial status has a greater impact on corporate bonds with credit ratings of A- and AA-, while it has a smaller impact on corporate bonds with credit ratings above AA. The results of this article can help individual and institutional investors prevent risks from investing.

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