This paper analyzes the impact and the spillover effect of a sovereign rating announcement on the euro area CDS market. Through the event study technique, we demonstrate that downgrades and upgrades considerably affect financial markets. The relevance of the impact is due to the introduction of...

We analyze the impact of sovereign rating changes on European corporate loan spreads. We demonstrate that sovereign downgrades lead to significant increases in the spread of loans to domestic firms. We find evidence that the negative effects of a sovereign downgrade are widespread across all...

We verify the effects of sovereign rating revisions on the activity of European banks, in terms of their regulatory capital ratio, profitability, liquidity, and lending supply. First, we find that a sovereign downgrade has a significant impact, primarily on capital ratios and lending supply. In...

We examine the Italian insurers’ investments between 2017 and 2020, focusing on the interplay between the companies’ balance sheet structure and the financial market conditions. Our findings suggest that insurers play a stabilizing role in financial markets by increasing their exposure to...

We analyse whether soliciting multiple ratings leads to lower syndicated loan spreads. Our results document that banks apply, on average, lower spreads to multi-rated firms. This effect depends on the reduction of information asymmetry about borrowers' creditworthiness (information production...

Government bond markets play a critical role in the smooth functioning of the financial system, in the conduct and transmission of monetary policy and in the economy as a whole. Maintaining resilient government bond markets is fundamental for policymakers and authorities. This note examines the...

This paper discusses the competing forces that are reshaping the European banking industry and the medium-term consequences for profitability and competition within the sector. The paper highlights that banks are rethinking their business model to address four challenges to emerge in the last...