This paper investigates how lenders react to borrowers' rating changes under heterogeneous conditions and different regulatory regimes. Our findings suggest that corporate downgrades that increase capital requirements for lending banks under the Basel II framework are associated with increased...

Standalone ratings measure a bank's intrinsic financial strength but – unlike all-in ratings – do not incorporate potential sovereign or parent-bank support. On July 20, 2011, Fitch switched from a 9-point to a 21-point scale for their standalone ratings but did not alter their all-in...